Blank Check with Griffin & David - Knock at the Cabin with Marie Bardi

Episode Date: February 12, 2023

Knock knock! Who’s there? M. Night Shyamalan, of course! We’re answering the door and ushering in the apocalypse with a look at Night’s latest offering.  Join our Patreon at patreon.com/blankcheck Follow us @blankcheckpod on Twitter and Instagram! Buy some real nerdy merch at shopblankcheckpod.myshopify.com or at teepublic.com/stores/blank-check

🎵 Why are you here? I suppose I'm here to make friends with you and your dads too, but my heart is broken. Why is it broken? Because of what I have to podcast today. Come in. I think, no, what's the question? Oh, sorry.

Who's there? Oddcast. What's the follow-up? Podcast who? Podcast at the cabin. It's so stupid. I don't like this voice you're taking. I know.

It's kind of unsettling. It's me. It's the podcast. I don't like this voice you're taking. I know. It's kind of unsettling. It's me. It's the podcast at the cabin. Look, there's a filmmaker who once every two years decides to knock at our door with a new film. He really is like clockwork, isn't he? Yeah. We've been doing the show. This is now.

We're coming up on our eighth anniversary. We're going to our ninth year of doing this show. Is it four new movies he's released during that period? The only guy who's matched him is Spielberg. Steven Spielberg has had four films since we covered him. Shyamalan obviously was the first director we covered as proper blank check miniseries. So he had a head start on everyone else.

But even still, I believe it's Spielberg has four, Shyamalan has four, every other director has one. Yeah, there's no one with two. Berhovin's made one. Gina's made one.

Zemeckis has made one. We're talking since completion of miniseries. Cameron's made one. Pretty good one, though. Yeah, pretty fucking killer one.

Yeah, pretty good one if you think about it, actually. Do you know about Pyrecon, the outcast token? Well, Nolan will have made two this year. He's going to get us two. Right. Yes. Right?

Nolan's getting us two. His tenant was the only one that we hadn't done. Okay. Correct. Right, because some of them, it's a little unfair. Dunkirk, you know, Dunkirk, we timed it to Dunkirk. Some of them, it's unfair because we time them a little bit. Same with Detroit.

Same with the power of the dogs. Right. Yeah, you know. But you know what? You know what? To revisit a director. What's important is that Shyamalan is working a lot. And efficiently and successfully.

Not only that. Yeah. But he has made four movies since we finished covering him in 2016. And all four of those films have been self-financed by the Bank of Shyamalan. That is the wildest part. And I don't know how this one's going to go, but it is basically tracking to make its budget back in its opening weekend. So it's going to be basically four bets in a row that paid off. Right. And look, varying levels of success, but he basically seems to have established a model

where he cannot lose money, where at least all these films are going into slight profit. Glass made $250 million worldwide, and that movie was not liked. People hate that film, whereas I think it's a Glastonbury piece. I do too.

But this is the thing. He has basically kept the budgets at the exact same general level that is easily passable basically an opening weekend alone he pre-sells distribution and foreign and everything and it's like either the movie's a big hit or it makes a little profit and either way every time he's fucking mortgaging his house it was basically like so it was like the visit was five. Split was like 10. And then like Glass on, they've all been about 20.

20's his own now. Yeah. And like actors want to work with him so he can get them for reasonable prices. And like you say, he just kind of, you know, delivers in the same time slot usually. He's an efficient filmmaker. He knows what he can pull off. He builds films around locations that knows what he can pull off. He builds films around locations that he knows he can shoot in, right?

It's pretty impressive. We're talking, of course, about Minaj Knight's Shyamalan. Yes. M. Knight. Shyamalan. How old is he these days? 52 years old.

Yeah. He's like LeBron. He's got like another 40 years in him making these things. it's wild how young he was at his sort of like peak of cultural prominence look this is a podcast called Blank Check with Griffin and David I'm Griffin

so fast he hasn't made a movie about a fast guy yet what if the guy was fast? they should do more like they should do fun knocks is this the official name of that shape and a haircut two bits Yeah. They should do more like dun-dun-dun-dun-dun. They should do... Oh, they should do fun knocks? Yeah. Is this the official name of that shape and a haircut?

Two bits. Yeah. Eddie! Please, Eddie! He should also do a Roger Rabbit movie. That's another thing I'm saying. M. Night Shyamalan

should do a movie about a fast guy. He should do fun knocks and Roger Rabbit he should bring back. Not make a Roger Rabbit sequel. He should just cast Roger Rabbit as an actor.

As in a role. He's a good actor. I mean, people Rabbit sequel. He should just cast Roger Rabbit as an actor. Like, in a role. He's a good actor. I mean, people love him. You ever see Tummy Trouble? Anyway, there's a podcast called Blank Check. Podcasts about filmographies. Directors who have massive success early on in their career say, making the sixth sense. Right.

And are given a series of blank checks to make whatever crazy passion products they want. Sometimes those checks clear, say, signs. want sometimes those checks clear say signs sometimes they bounce baby say lady in the water and then sometimes as we've said a man establishes his own line of credit and is able to issue the checks to himself yeah that's funny he's worked with every major studio now but i feel like he'll never leave the universal stable right like he's no he's so we were so excited when the old school Universal logo came up at the beginning of the movie. We started clapping.

Yeah. And the opening credits of this thing are great. The opening credits... It was very fun to discover what they meant after watching the movie. Because it's all of the visions on the Mexican restaurant menu. The nurses' log.

Right. The school stuff. See, I'm already excited to watch it. This is Knock at the Cabin. Yeah. This is now, what number movie is this from? 13? Is this on Lucky 13 for M. Night?

15. Wow. This is including Praying with Anger and Wide Awake, of course. You have to include Wide Awake. Yeah. My feature film debut. I didn't know that. And Praying with Anger and Wide Awake of course you have to include Wide Awake yeah my feature film debut yeah I know that

and Praying with Anger M. Night Shyamalan's feature film debut as an actor and is he in this movie yep oh yeah Ben

yeah you didn't spot him are you joking did you go to the bathroom he's on the shopping channel he's selling us air fryers I saw a really good salesperson

oh yeah yeah oh you think he just like who just really like just vanished I really, like, just vanished. I was just like, that fried chicken looks good. I loved his cameo. Yeah, I'm so curious about this QVC-type channel that also has breaking news. Marie had a lot of questions about this.

It's a real channel. I mean, that's a real thing. I was trying to make out the letters because they sort of make it so it looks like MSNBC, but then if you look closer closer it's like NLM and SFBQ. This is a real question. If planes started falling out of the sky in

their hundreds, would QVC break into that? Well, what did they do on 9-11? I don't know. They probably had to address it on 9-11. Yeah. This is my question. Maybe QVC, like the guys are like, um, hey, turn off that feed. I'll say this wait i'm gonna google this right now my sister my sister ronnie newman a young person right so when 9-11 happens

she's three i remember there being a thing where my parents were like she can't process what's happening despite the fact that was happening out our window um and my mom and dad were like here are the channels you can't turn on. Sure. Because a lot of entertainment channels were preempting their coverage with the news coverage of their sister networks. So whatever like conglomerate they were under,

it was like Nickelodeon was maybe uninterrupted, but ESPN was playing ABC News. Right. You know? So I have an answer for what QVC did during 9-11. Great question. Great answer. Give it to me.

I'm going to read this from LostMediaWiki.com. Big fan of Lost Media. Came up when I Googled QVC 9-11. American free-to-air shopping channel QVC was in the middle

of airing live programming on September 11, 2001 when the September 11 attacks occurred. With their increasing seriousness and scale, the events eventually led to abandonment and temporary suspension of network programming during an airing of Denim & Co. a few hours after the attacks began. A slide was put up to note that the program was suspended and that one should turn to a news

channel, alongside later adding an additional slide with contact information to donate to the American Red Cross. So they just said stop watching. Yes, they said move on, shopper. Yeah. Yeah. I thought you were going to ask, David, if planes started falling out of the sky, what would you do?

What would I do? I'd be like, told ya! Yeah. It's interesting. Nicky Finkin? Look, M. Night, one of the few people who is sort of a brand name in and of himself. And because of that, he's been able to get original films made throughout his career, right? His last two films, adaptations, obviously he did Last Airbender before.

But that felt like an anomaly in his career. And now he is like using other starting points to craft proper M. Night movies old of course was loosely based on a graphic novel and

this is both and I was looking at the credits I thought this was interesting I don't know if you caught this it's both based on obviously Cabin at the End of the World

the book that came out a couple years ago but there also is a credit that says it is loosely inspired by Griffin Newman's current world view yes exactly is a credit that says it is loosely inspired by Griffin Newman's current worldview. Yes, exactly.

It does say that. Yeah, it says that. Loosely. Like the comedy stylings of Tim Allen. It's like sort of we crafted obviously you couldn't

make a movie out of my despair spirals but you could you could loosely you could use it as a jumping off point. It's a movie called Knock at the Cabin

about how everything's bad not everything's bad not everything that's that's that's the lesson in the movie I don't know if I

I mean this is some of what I've struggled with was I'm struggling with this movie I will say David you far and away liked it the most of the four of us

yeah the three of us had pretty mixed opinions. I said this is a real turd. Ben called it a turd. It was a turd that you can't get to flush. You know that kind of turd. Producer Ben did not like it. Marie Barty, Marie Barty, Party Barty.

Hey Griff, nice to be here. Native of M. Night Shyamalan's Stomping Grounds. Correct. UVC, also a Philadelphia area company. But yeah. Coming back once again for Shyamalan's Stomping Grounds. Correct. QVC, also a Philadelphia area company. I didn't know that. But yeah. Coming back once again for Shyamalan.

Of course. Yes. Happy to be here. I'm still chewing on this film. I am too. It's not going down easily. It's not. It's like a turd.

I wouldn't go so far as to call it a turd. Yeah. It's like one of those like really crusty baguettes that's like a little rubbery too. And you're just chewing the bread, you know, like you're eating a sandwich and you like the meat inside the sandwich. Yeah. But the bread itself is like. How's this metaphor doing? Not well.

It doesn't fluff easily. You're trying and the baguette's not going down the toilet. It's not. I don't. I don't want to. You have to eat the food before you flush it. I don're trying to, the baguette's not going down the toilet. It's not, I don't, I don't want to, I don't want to, I don't want to bring the toilet in here. I've been trying to cut out the middleman.

I go, maybe I don't have indigestion. If I get my food to go, bring it home, put it straight into the toilet. I'm still chewing. I haven't been able to swallow and sit content with my meal.

I'm still chewing. I would say I was pretty amped for this movie. I think without having unreasonable excitement or expectations, but I've just loved the run that M. Night has been on. Not without exception. I struggle with Split, but I've liked this recent run a lot. And on paper, I'm like, yes, this is exactly what I want to see him doing. This is a great setup for a film. Matisse is a really interesting actor for him to be working with. One of my favorite guys right now.

And I just sat there and kept waiting for it to click for me. The feeling I like, and look, we talk about this a lot. He is an aggressively unsubtle filmmaker, right? And his tone and his pitch and his style are so weird and can be so off-putting for people that a lot of folks watch his movies

and immediately go, I can't fucking handle any of this, right? Just immediate turn off for me. Whereas I'm very much on the wavelength of everything he tries to do. But I feel like in most of his movies, you sit there and whether or not it's a twist movie, I feel like there's a lot been made already about there, and whether or not it's a twist movie,

I feel like there's a lot been made already about this is a movie that feels like it's building towards a twist, and the twist is almost the lack of a twist. The twist is almost this film being exactly what it presents itself to be. Okay, I have to... Are you aware of the books? I am. I am. All this to say, I spent the whole movie going, when am I going to click into what he's really trying to do here? And I kept on feeling like I was getting close and I couldn't quite understand what he was trying to say. David, let's talk about the book.

read the book being like, I wonder if he's going to do the plot of the book in that kind of concerned tone. Sure. I watched this movie, and then I looked up the book. And if they had put the book on screen, do you know what happens in the book? Yes, I do know.

So we're about to get into... F CinemaScore, zero dollars. Yeah, we're about to get into spoilers. We dug into this after the movie yesterday. We did some book digging. But yes, we're spoiling both the book and the movie. Proceed at your own risk from here on out. But beyond the fact that I think the book's plot

would have been kind of unpalatable for a movie, that he read that book and then fundamentally changed its takeaway is fascinating to me. I, internet, semi-reliable resource of facts. Yes. What I read yesterday made it sound like, internet, semi-reliable resource of facts. Clickety-clack. Yes.

What I read yesterday made it sound like, and perhaps you will correct me here, this was a book that was optioned as a movie in its manuscript stage before it was even published. I believe Universal gets the rights to it. They hire two writers who are the two writers who get credit on this film with Shyamalan. Yeah.

Shyamalan has his deal, what's his company called, Blinding Edge, with Universal now for distribution. At some point, Universal throws to him, hey,

here's a thing we have. Would you maybe want to come on board as a producer? He goes, this is interesting. He reads the script. Yeah.

He reads their script adaptation of the book, I think, before he reads the book. Goes, this is interesting. He reads the script. Yeah. He reads their script adaptation of the book, I think, before he reads the book. Goes, this is interesting, comes on as producer, then goes, I'd like to have a pass at this as a writer, and then decides he's going to direct it. Yeah.

So he's working off of mostly the adaptation that already existed in script form more than sparking to the book. But I don't know if... I think the adaptation was straightforward. I think so, too. I don't think much had been changed at that point. That he read that story and changed it so profoundly

is so M. Night. Yes. That he read a book that is so profoundly pessimistic in its viewpoint and anti-religious in a way. And was like, I see sort of like a spiritualism in here and i see a chance for optimism and future sort of like it's just it's just so m night what a guy yeah what a wild guy who was the oh we were talking about with danny boyle he was saying it's weird how many filmmakers start out thinking they maybe want to be priests right totally. Totally. And M. Night's a classic example of it. Yes.

Not that he, you know, obviously he's a Hindu, but he went to Catholic school. He's so fascinated by faith. Went with Maria. He wanted to make Life of Pi. That was like his huge passion project, which is about like this person, you know, struggling between faiths. He's this immigrant who goes to a Catholic school just by not being Catholic because it was the best school and he's in an environment where he's indoctrinated with this.

I wouldn't say it was the best school. It was a good school that was slightly more affordable than some of the fancier schools. I think his parents at that point in the 80s or whatever thought that was

the best place for him to be even if it was not their religious dogma. But yeah, so he's inundated with this thing that is not necessarily his religion that he was raised with. But faith has been a very interesting thing throughout all of his movies. He talks about it, I feel like, quite openly.

Yes. How interested he is by it. So the plot of The Cabin at the End of the World is very similar. I know you guys know this, but just to put it out there. The basic setup. Very similar. The setup is the same. There's a gay couple with their adopted daughter.

They're on vacation. Four weirdos show up at the door with medieval weapons. And they're like, we don't know each other, but we've all had visions of the end of the world and we've all had visions

that one of you has to kill another one of you. It's a... To stop. What do you call it? A trolley car problem. Sure. You have to choose

between the three of you, which one dies and one of you dying will prevent the apocalypse. But you have to intend to kill. Yes. You know, like it has to be a conscious thing. Right. The plot plays out the same,

except when about halfway through, one of the guys gets his gun and tries to challenge them. Yes. The gun goes off in struggle and kills the daughter. Yes, the small, adorable girl. Little, cute girl. Right.

And they're, like, horrified and also, like, is it over? And the guys are like, it's not over because you didn't mean to do that. She wasn't a willing sacrifice. It was an accident. And so they all kill each other, the invaders. Yes.

Intentionally. They're all, you know all killing themselves off one by one and then the couple decides not to kill each other because they're like, whatever God would do this, it's not a God worth sacrificing ourselves for. We will face the end of the world together. Correct. If it is happening. At the very least, we have each other. Our love is

the one true pure thing in this world. And also beyond that even, like, what kind of God would not be satisfied by our daughter dying? What an asshole. Yeah. Yes. What an asshole. And also beyond that, even like what kind of God would not be satisfied by our daughter? Sure. What an asshole. Yeah. Yes. And what an asshole.

What? This guy, what an asshole. Sure. He made flowers. Overrated. Just be funny. Just thinking about God in that way where you're like, yeah, there's things I like. Sunshine.

God never directed Unbreakable, though. Well, but then in a way, did he? Did he? Was his hand guiding Minaj? And I think in the book, there is a little more ambiguity as to whether the end of the world is really happening or if it's just a really shitty day. Right. Right. This movie's pretty definitive.

This movie is more definitive as it goes on. Sure. That the end of the world does seem to be happening. And basically, God does seem to be real. God is real. Yes. I guess. Yeah.

And that the choice they make will stop it. Yes. Obviously, the movie's progressing in the same way of, it seems ludicrous to begin with, and you know, blah, blah, blah. More and more bad things start happening. And then, of course, this movie has a totally different ending of one of them does decide to kill the other one. And it does seem to stop the underworld. Also, the kid doesn't die.

Kid doesn't die. Little Wen lives to see another day. Lives with her one daddy. With one remaining parent. Ben Aldridge. Yeah, Daddy Andrew. Yeah, Daddy Andrew. Daddy Andrew, Daddy Eric.

Yes. You have Jonathan Groff as Daddy Eric. You have the great Dave Bautista. And then the other three intruders are Abby Quinn, Rupert Grint. And what's the other actor's name? Nikki Asuka Bird. Who's so good. Amuka.

Amuka, excuse me. Who is so good. She was also in Old. The doctor in Old, yes. Yes. She's just a great actor. She's been in lots of things. She's a Brit.

Yeah. She is a Brit. Well noticed. While stats, this is the only other Rupert Grint movie to get wide distribution in the United States outside of the Harry Potter franchise. I mean, I can believe that because he's made so few films and they're all like British films. He was in the CBG GB movie that the,

the involuntary manslaughter guy, one of our most criminal filmmakers. What's his name? Randall something. Randall Miller. Randall Miller. Yeah, he really is. The movie about the farting boy.

That never got an American release. Never got an American release. Huge in the UK. Yeah, that one kind of hit in the UK. Yeah, but he doesn't do a lot. He's been doing M. Night's Servant TV show. Have you guys watched Servant? No, and Emma Stefanski,

who I saw this film with Keeps telling me to watch it And she says he plays a dang ass weird freak in that one too I'm sorry I'm about to Be a little mean I thought he was terrible I thought he was really good in this You thought he was terrible in this?

I thought he was really good in this Yeah he's good in this He's terrible When he died I was like thank god we can move on I was disappointed. Yeah, you were like, I want more Rup. Yeah. What?

Like, whatever accent he was trying to do. He's doing an accent. Mean guy accent. He's kind of doing Caleb Landry bag. Yeah. Yeah. I just love that he's. Because everything I've heard about him is, he's rich.

Straight chiller. He's a straight chiller. Yeah. And if he's working. He seems like a nice guy. Yeah. He only is doing it because he's like interested And he and Shyamalan He's just decided to be Shyamalan's little freak boy I think that's cool

I just was not impressed with what I saw of Ron Weasley in this movie I liked him Bree's not impressed Nope Ben impressed? I mean because Grint's in the Ben zone Grint could play Ben I mean, but he's like a bad scumbag He's a bad guy

But in the movie You mean in this movie? Ron Weasley is a cute, nice boy Yeah, Ron Weasley's cute I guess you never really did the Harry Potter thing So you don't really know You've never seen any of them, right? No, I did finally see them

Oh, you did Like over pandemic I watched them That's weird So you never watched them? Well, I guess you're a little older. You didn't care about the books. Yeah. Griffin and I are the same age as

Daniel Radcliffe, and so we, like, grew up. But Harry Potter is the exact type of thing Ben is designed to hate. Absolutely. In every way. Absolutely. You must have liked Ron a little, though. No. He's got a rap friend. Yeah. Listen, I watched those though. No. He's got a rap friend. I, yeah.

Listen, I watched those things. Yeah. And I did not absorb them at all. Sure. Okay? It's just not for me. Yeah. That's fine. It's Spelly Armas.

It's a pretty dope position to hold in 2023. Yeah, you're fine. No one's ever going to attack you for that. It'd be weird if you were like, I watched them and I fell in love with the wizarding world. Now. The rest of us are frantically trying to square this circle and you got out clean. Never was into it in the first place.

You're like, let me in. Let me in. Yeah, watched it later, didn't like it. I mean, it's just, it had no impact on me. Yeah. And I do believe in magic. Yeah. In a young girl's heart.

It's just, it's interesting to track their three separate careers. Well, yes, it is. It's funny. I think he and Radcliffe are in similar zones. It's just that Radcliffe does more stuff. He does. But they're both in the zone of like, I'll play nasty little freaks in indie stuff.

And then Emma Watson has been in the biggest things post Potter, but also feels like the least successful element of all of them. And now maybe a soft retired. She's, I feel like she's retired unless. Yes. The right offer comes along or whatever. And it is crazy how it's so,

I was talking about this as I walked out of the screening. Like, yeah, she's in one of the most successful films of recent years. And everyone on Earth, 100 out of 100 people on the street would agree she's the worst thing in it. And she's not even that bad. I'm talking about Little Women.

Oh, I thought you were talking about Beauty and the Beast. We're talking about financially successful... Beauty and the Beast. But that movie made a lot of money. I guess Little Women kind of did too, right? Little Women was a huge hit that everyone is re-watching It's becoming a Christmas classic

That movie's getting etched in stone And everyone's like Florence Pugh, Saoirse Ronan Fuck even the other one Scanlon, Bob Odenkirk Everyone's posting Odenkirk Do you ever see an Emma Watson gif? No! David, I think similarly though to Marie's point

I don't want to talk about Beauty and the Beast. I need to say this. I need to say this. You do? It is hard to think of an actor who got less of a bump for being the lead of one of the ten highest grossing movies of all time. It's not one of the ten highest grossing movies of all time. At the time of its release...

It might have been. Beauty and the Beast? It's not might. It was seven. It was in the top ten. Did that make a Billy? Yes. It made one, too. Oh, that's ridiculous. It was seven it was in the top ten did that make a Billy yes made one too oh that's ridiculous it was humongous I mean I did see it

in theaters opening weekend for someone who was already a big ass celebrity but that's the thing to then be the lead of that movie and have the takeaway be she's pretty much done

right that's the thing that's the thing yes Harry Potter is it yeah you can't there's no bigger

no but then she had a huge hit and everyone's like let's forget about that it's not bigger you can't be bigger than Harry Potter is it yeah you can't there's no bigger no but then she had a huge hit and everyone's like let's forget about that it's not bigger she can't be bigger than Harry Potter and you're like she's in This is the End

she's in Perks of Being a Wallflower Bling Ring like on paper she has the best post Potter career on paper you're like big projects yeah she's worked with

good directors and high profile good star all that she's not in this movie obviously yeah I know but

the Beauty and the Beast thing is not interesting to me in some way because it's sort of like those Disney movies are just, it's just so irrelevant. Yeah, they're soulless culture. No one gets bumps out of them ever. I shouldn't bad mouth them else.

You know. Oh, sure. But like, who got a bump out of any Disney live action movie? They won't send me the poster. Yeah. Who got a bump out of any Disney live action movie? Great question. No one. Lily James Who got a bump out of any Disney live action movie? Great question. No one.

Lily James got a mild bump. I do think it helped her be financeable. Sure. At a lower level. She gets to be the lead. At the start, that was when there was still some novelty. Right. And she was more unknown than most of their picks at the time she was cast.

The Aladdin leads, especially the guy, notoriously wouldn't get hired for anything. What movie? I mean, you have like the racial aspects of that. Right. But I think it's beyond, it's bigger than that. It's like, no, we liked that.

Well, we didn't like it, but you also, we didn't even register you. But what, the Jasmine lady, what's her name? Naomi Scott. Naomi Scott.

I would argue she had more heat going into Aladdin than she does post-Aladdin. She had more heat off Power Rangers than off that thing. She was the one who was kind of like, oh, Naomi Scott's Scott I would argue she had more heat going into Aladdin than she does post Aladdin she had more heat off Power Rangers than off Batman she was the one who was kind of like oh Naomi Scott's like doing shit she's good

but that's why I think Little Women is interesting because I don't even think she's bad in that movie she's not like amazing but she's fine but also Meg is like everyone's least

least favorite sister it was supposed to be Emma Stone I know and you cannot find a person who thinks oh the Emma Emma Watson version's better Emma Stone's not a Meg to be Emma Stone. I know. And you cannot find a person who thinks, oh, the Emma Watson version's better.

Emma Stone's not a Meg, though. No, Emma Stone's a Joe. Yes. But she's too old to be a Joe. Forget Stone. Okay. Cast the Stone aside. She was in a beloved movie.

Yeah. People are posting screenshots from it all the time. The youth found it. The Zoomers love it. People basically forget she was in it. Yeah, they do. I'm struggling to remember that she was in it right now as I talk about it. Second build. I think she should

focus on her non-acting work. Yeah. She seems to care deeply about literacy, feminism, and sustainability. Yeah. Use your platform, girl. She hasn't made a movie since Little Women. She seems to be soft retired I also think it's interesting that at the time of Potter

It felt like everyone was like well she's the one who's going to go on To have the longest career Absolutely, Azkaban was the first time anyone thought Any of the kids were good in that movie and it was her Right, and you'd hear the stories of like she's a little pro Yeah, she's the biggest find Right Of those kids

And then you even get to this point where you're like Harry Melling's good He's not just good, that guy's amazing He's fucking great Is that Dursley? Yeah, anytime he pops up in a movie, people are like You know who walked away with it? Melling Another theft, call the cops

He walked away with Buster Scruggs He didn't have arms or legs Dottie was someone I did like The little guy Dobby I'm Dottie You like Dobby? Dobby was the one

He's got your energy He wears weird rags He's kind of always making mischief He's sort of like What if Yoda But sort of like, you know, what if Yoda, but sort of, you know, funny, I guess. Yeah. Has he been in anything else?

Dobby? Yeah, he's on an NBC show right now. Is he the good doctor? Yeah, he's the good doctor. He's like the good doctor's rival. So, I'm not sure who has made this film. Yeah. I saw it

at an Alamo screening when you were in LA. Humble Ray. Thank you. And you guys saw it at the Regal Essex? Yesterday. We saw just

the very nice score we're reporting on. We saw it at Danny Bull's yesterday. We, now, let's just say this, okay? Because we ran into a listener at the theater. Okay. And Marie, you said that they ran into a listener at the theater. Okay.

And Marie, you said that they on the Discord had proposed the theory that perhaps there is a curse upon the three of us. Yes. Because, of course, Ben, Marie and I, last main feed, new film from a previous director, Avatar of the Way of Water.

We went to see it at the Regal Union Square. Day of. Day of. First screening. First screening. Publicly, the first screening we could possibly go to the earliest one on the first day

and the movie broke down we had to go to a different screening and then a month later they announced that that theater is closing right yesterday we went to

the Regal Essex a different theater of the same beleaguered chain yep that they're not closing nope so now

yes for now not closing not on the list. The lease is probably far from expiring. I think their whole reason they picked Union Square is because the lease was ending. And expensive. Yeah, but I'm sure the real estate one is expensive too. But we went to the 5 p.m. Thursday showing. Once again, the earliest

showing we could find at any theater yesterday. Yep. Twice, David. The movie just froze. Yeah. It looked like someone hit a pause button. Sure. It wasn't like glitching or stuttering. You think someone did? It just straight up, and both times they were in like high stress

moments. There's not a lot of low stress moments. Like fucking Batista walking towards the camera with the axe and then it just stopped. And one time it was Ben Aldridge with the gun in the axe. This is an interesting choice by Shyamalan to stop the movie. I thought, truly, because Marie was like, he's not playing with the form

as much as he has been recently. And then the movie stops and I was like, okay, where are we going? And the house lights came on and you were like, interesting. The guy came in and he was like, theater's broken. And you were like, this is good. Oh, yeah. No, it was that scary thing where it like It happened

It happened for like 30 or 45 seconds It started up again We went Oh I guess we're in the clear And then 15 minutes later It happened again And then everyone in the audience

Went no Is it gonna keep happening And then we were safe But So it only happened twice No one even went to Complain No

It was The pauses were I think less than 30 seconds It's still quite Quite annoying A weird thing happened to me At the Alamo Not to call the Alamo out Because they usually The pauses were I think less than 30 seconds It's still quite annoying A weird thing happened to me at the Alamo Not to call the Alamo out

Because they usually run a tight ship over there Did they not bring you your food? No they brought me my food That's the worst case scenario That is a bad scenario The movie ended and then they were like No one can leave we forgot to give you your checks Because usually they drop the checks

Around 40 minutes before, and then they, like, clearly began the check process. So I was in that theater for another half an hour. Sitting with Emma, stewing. I thought you were making a joke about Critic Paola. I thought you were saying the universal... My checks came in. No, my food check.

They didn't buy you food? You had to pay for your own food? Yeah, it was just, look, the reason I started the online was, I just, you know, they do those screenings sometimes where they just. Oh, this was a critic screening. This was an early. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I just, it's just two, you can get two seats.

I just took two seats because I was like, that means I don't have to go to the press screening at Lincoln Square. Sure. That's all. It's closer to my house. Yeah. And I have dinner with Square. Sure. That's all. It's closer to my house. Yeah. And I have dinner with it. Gotcha.

That's wild, though. And that's all a bunch of blankies. They locked the door from the outside and said, no one can leave until you pay the check? They, I, it was one of those things where I was like, what happens if I leave? And then I was just like, I bet they just like, I don't know.

I don't want to take the risk. Dave Bautista walked in and said, a grave error has been made today. One person has to pay everyone's bill and you have to decide. As long as I get out of here. Every 30 minutes an Alamo Drafthouse employee

will commit suicide until the check is paid. Anyway, so we both had little funny looks, but my viewing experience was not interrupted. Sure.

I was with knock at the cabin. Look, I bring this up to say not that I think the blank check curse is real. I think Marie, Ben and i can go see movies and not destroy the theater going experience but for all the hand-wringing about how to bring the theater going experience back to prominence for people's minds maybe these theaters should make sure their movies work

it is fairly damning look i don't want to say anything bad About Regal as a chain But they are pretty bad chains Look I saw fucking Puss in Boots The Last Wish I made a Last Wish the other night It's fucking week five of that movie's release Or whatever How was it? Did you like it?

I thought it was okay The funniest thing though Was that Griff was kind of Meh on it And then in the In the Doughboys chat You were like You know I just haven't been liking movies

That much lately And I was like I was asleep. Sure. I would have said like, Griff, you like Avatar, you like,

this movie's, it's okay if Puss in Boots didn't knock you out of the car. No, there are a couple movies I loved. I've been, I've just been, You've been a little,

you know. I've been a little muted on things. I saw Avatar three fucking times because it made me feel something. Yeah. I'm just saying, Puss in Boots, not delivering is,

you know, it is what it is. I will say this. It started, here was my arc on The Last Wish, and then we're going to talk about Anarka. Yeah, we got to talk about Anarka. Here was my arc on The Last Wish. I think I made it clear, I do not have much fondness for the Shrek franchise. A franchise I loved when it came out.

People think I have no nostalgia for it. I do. I just, when I've tried to give those movies a modern spin, they don't do much for me. Right? Yeah, because they're bad. David, I will let you take the slings and arrows on that one. Easy. Easy.

Bad. Al Pacino would beg to differ. Yes, he would. Everyone keeps on saying, Puss in Boots, Last Wish, Surprise Banger. Right? Yes.

So I go into it being like, everyone's telling me this is a Surprise Banger. Right. First five or ten minutes, I'm like, okay, this banger, right? Yes. So I go into it being like, everyone's telling me this is a surprise banger. Right. First five or ten minutes, I'm like, okay, this is cute, whatever. I just don't want to see this, right? And then somewhere around the ten-minute mark, it really starts clicking for me.

Right. Ben Darius went, you know, went full news. Ben Darius' performance is incredible. I mean, he's so good, actually. He really is. There's the scene where the doctor starts recounting the different lives, and you're like, this is funny, it's kind of visually inventiveive and then it gets into a good run and the introduction

some of the supporting characters is fun and i was like okay i see what everyone's talking about this is good and then like two-thirds of the way through i was like i maxed out on this thing and i felt like a grumpy old man where i was just like this movie's too loud too much is going on your arms are increasingly full yeah i was just like this thing has the modern animation thing where it's like so relentless and whiz-bang. And it's also, isn't it like, it's kind of like an hour 45 or whatever. It's like an hour 45 and it feels like the last

45 minutes are like a series of set pieces on top of each other that start to feel abstract because it's just like nothing but guitar solos. And then by the end of it, I was like, it's good. It wore me out. Yeah. There was a point in the middle where I, I was like, it's good. I just, it wore me out. There was a point in the middle where I was really jamming.

You liked Megan. I like Megan. She's good. Megan's good. Yeah, I didn't love it. I like Megan. I liked, what was the other thing I saw?

Wasn't crazy about a man called Otto. Whoa, he's so curmudgeon. I'm sorry. I know I said we have to talk about man knocking the cabinet. I've been waiting for a more topical episode. All right, do your Otto thing.

Do it. This was fascinating and I have not heard a single personical episode. Do your Otto thing. Do it. This was fascinating, and I have not heard a single person mention this. Man Called Otto. Yeah. The mildest of spoilers. More poster film. Uh-huh.

A movie about the grumpiest man in America, right? Pretty early on, you find out, oh, one of the reasons he's grumpy, his wife is dead. Right. I don't think this is a major spoiler. There are more specifics to this that are unfolding.

Whatever. Otto spoiler. But pretty early on, you sense the absence of the wife. And he goes to work. Dave Bautista keeps trying to kill him. That's bugging him. Otto, you're going to have to make a difficult decision. Megan is there.

He doesn't want to hear it from her. Otto would be able to solve a knock at the cabin pretty quickly. That's all I'm going to say. He'd be like, I volunteer as tribute, right? Absolutely. He's ready to go. Early in the movie, Otto goes to the gravestone of his wife with a thermos of coffee

and talks to her. On the gravestone, it says, whatever, 1960 blank to 2018, right? So I'm looking at this

and I'm like, okay, so his wife died like five years ago. He's like five years on from the death of the wife, right? Doing the math on the timeline. And then later in the movie,

he talks about the fact that his wife died less than a year ago. It has been less than a year from her death. And I'm like... So the film's set pre-pandemic? That was the thing.

I was like, why would they make it that she died in 2019? Why wouldn't he make the film present it? Because they don't want to acknowledge the pandemic. Yeah, sure.

It was just the first time I've seen a movie do that. Well, it's interesting to see the approaches. Because the whole thing is like, he's been alone without his wife, and he's been miserable. And you're like, if he then has to live through the pandemic, his entire mental state is so much different. They don't want to think about that. Do we see the wife? Is it

Rita? No. How is Rita's song? Oh, get it. The wife. Good joke. Yeah. Five comedy points. Oh, get it. The Wife. Good joke. Five comedy points. I wish I could give her a name, but she's a really good actor. She's on Fargo and Legion. She's a Holly vet. Okay.

But how's Rita's song? It's okay. Does it play over the credits? Yeah. Good for her. I'm trying to... I don't know who played his wife Because I don't know what her name is I don't know That's my own thing I just hadn't seen that yet

And I think we're still in the era Of figuring out How different movies deal with Does this take place in a timeline Where the pandemic existed or not Wait Is Rachel Keller? Yes

Oh she's young But you only see the wife In like long flashbacks Correct Okay okay Correct Yeah I like Rachel Keller I think she's a really good actress

Yeah I'm Yeah I'm fond of her. You know, it's a similar thing with, like, Succession being like, pandemic never happened. Yeah, well, some shows are like, let's not do it. And a movie like this essentially being like, this needs to be a period piece

because it has to be set before the pandemic. What were you going to say, Ben? I was one of a handful of people that went to see House Party. Oh, how was it, Ben? Bad. Three-run house party, nobody came. Yeah, no one showed up to this house party.

It was just weird. It was like LeBron was one of the producers and it's like he's, it's his house. The movie's all about it being his house. But it's just, he's way too close to the material and the thing I was saying to the guys, it's like basically all of the jokes are like, LeBron is one of the greatest people to ever live

the premise of the original house party premise of the comedy premise of the original house party two friends are like i wish we were more cool right throw a house party yes in a house right uncle is like you better not throw a house party come chaos ensues right right this movie is guys get hired to house it or clean a house. Clean a house. They realize LeBron's house. They realize it's LeBron's house. They go, we should bird in the hand, have a party at this incredible mansion.

LeBron has a security system involved where he talks them through pre-recorded hologram messages. Yes. Where he talks about how great he is. And it's like, you better not be throwing a party at my house. Oh, my God. There's like a motive. It's like, why is this movie about LeBron? But isn't there also, not to spoil House Party,

a thing where Kid Cudi reveals that like the Illuminati exists? Yes, of course. And he is so, he's going for it. Kid Cudi is going for it and it's bad. Ben doesn't turd alert. This guy's smelling turds for 2023. Boxed off his rebounds. No, says Hosley.

I'm glad we're doing a lightning round catch up on the December Jan movies. But a knock at the cap. A knock at the cap. David, you go to see it a couple days before us. We saw it last night. You liked it a lot. Tell us why you liked it, David. No. I have more complicated reactions. I was very distressed

but I found it incredibly upsetting. Yes. I agree with that. Griffin and I sat in silence during the entire credit sequence and didn't know what to say. I found it,

look, I find it effective on that level. Right. It certainly did. I think it's quite well made and I kind of walked out of there

with Emma being like, well, I thought that was quite effective. Don't like it as much as old, which I think is just so wonderful. A blast for peace. Yeah. Don't like it as much as Old, which I think is just so wonderful.

And I like the sort of swirl of goofiness with him, right? Like, I like the sort of super sincere plus, like, slight kind of wacky fantasy, and this was more straightforward. But I do think it's just like a really interesting, weird Shyamalan moral parable. And I just respect the hell out of it. And who's making movies like this?

No one. And I just like, when you were looking at this body of work, it's just like, he just keeps like swerving and doing interesting stuff and like challenging himself. Yeah. Not doing the same kind of thing over and over again.

Like not just doing genre exercises. Like if this was just a genre exercise, it'd probably be pretty good. Mm-hmm. You know, like a kind of

home invasion, Twilight Zone-y kind of thriller. I know the book is, you know, he's going off the book. Sure. But I much prefer

him doing this, like, from the mind of a night show on shit. Yeah, I like this movie more zooming out

and looking at the filmography as a whole rather than having to like talk about it as a new release which in and of itself I find a lot less interesting than I do within the larger narrative

of his career. When we look back on his career at the very end of it 87 years from now it'll be like remember when he did that? That was odd.

Here's my biggest problem with this movie and I was saying this to Marie, and I don't know if this is just where my head's at right now. I, for as much as I did find this movie

effective in creating a sense of unease in me from beginning to end, I will say I did not really feel any narrative tension from this movie.

This is what Marie said. Just because I, from the beginning, was like, I think this is real. Yeah. It felt like he was tipping the hand too much, too early, in ways that took some of the ambiguity out of it. And so I sit there going, when does shit start getting really bad? I know there's an inevitable outcome

we're sort of trudging towards. Where does this final decision land? The movie I was comparing it to with Maria, which is one I've tried to rewatch a number of times and I still struggle with

on the same level, is like, Hateful Eight is a movie for me where the hour and a half in the middle where it's like, which one of these people is a bad person

has no tension for me. And I'm just like, I know there's going to be the point where everyone takes their guns out and start shooting at each other right and the fact that it takes so long to get there i i think for hateful aid is is not a short film no it's not but i think these are both filmmakers who are usually really good at finding some central area of tension and like stretching that wire out as far as they can until it frays and frays and frays and holding it really taut until the right moment right how would that work here i i don't know i mean here was my first thought kind of feels like a strategic error to me in a

visual medium as opposed to a book where the reader is creating images in their head and thus are questioning what they're seeing because it's their own interpretation. I kind of think the TV is a misstep

in this movie. So that's a change from the book? No. No, but I just think it plays differently if you, an audience member, are watching news footage

that a director created and the thumb is being put on the scale there. I mean, the suggestion brought up by the skeptic Daddy Andrew that maybe the broadcast was being, like, fed in from these, like...

Yeah, either it's totally fake or they knew... These are things that have been going on. They're hitting a fever pitch right now. That, to me, was way too big a leap. I agree. I start to feel... it's weird how quickly the more Daddy Eric

and Daddy Andrew start to rationalize why it couldn't be real. It feels like their leaps are becoming bigger than the leaps of Batista and Co. And it also

it's the fact that like those news broadcasts are directed by M. Night Shyamalan. So they all have weird M. Night Shyamalan tone. I hear you on that. So I look at them and I'm like well it feels like the world's ending. Night Shyamalan. So they all have weird M. Night Shyamalan tone. I hear you on that. So I look at them and I'm like,

well, it feels like the world's ending. Okay. Go on. Not to go all Griffey Newman on you. Please. But if you turned on the TV and there was news of a pandemic, you wouldn't be surprised.

If there was news of a tsunami, you wouldn't be surprised. If there was news of planes falling out of the sky, you'd probably start to get weirded out. But you can imagine it. Some kind of cyber attack two tsunamis within no it's the same it's the same tsunami no it's the two different earthquakes yeah but they're in the same place well the illusion islands and then off the coast of but it's supposed to be the whole the whole plate the it's the thing there's a new york article

about it we've all read it the big one they're referencing a real it's a real Yorker article about it. We've all read it. The big one. They're referencing a real thing. It's a real thing. A real phenomenon. It's a real worried about that maybe 500 years ago there was a gigantic tsunami that wiped out the Pacific Northwest and maybe it'll happen again someday. You know, whatever, blah, blah, blah.

It's in the realm of possibility. Feels in the realm of possibility for the reality we live in. And I feel like that's what M. Night Shyamalan is trying to tap into of this kind of thing of like, are we kidding ourselves every day when we watch stuff like that and we're like,

well, that's just the reality we live in. Stuff like that happens. Look, I did have the thought. I don't know anyone else who's making movies about contemporary life that way. No. As I was walking away from this movie, I was thinking, what could I see on the news that would genuinely shock me now in that way?

It does feel like we're at a point of just being like, I don't know, a good sitcom? Well. But David, Night Court's back. I don't know. Congress getting stuff done? This is what I'm saying, though. Folks!

In terms of, like, apocalyptic things happening, it's hard to imagine a thing I would be fully surprised by. No, but there are things. A volcano just erupted in New York. Okay, that's weird. Godzilla. Kaiju. Yeah, a monster appeared.

Sure, sure, sure. But we, the last couple of years, have contained a lot of things that felt like I could never imagine this feeling normal to me. And as you're saying, David, it is weird to turn on the TV or open your phone and seeing these headlines that start to become a little blasé. Right. That is unnerving. I get what he's doing there. I like it. He's turning the dial up. Yeah, I just think it is, once again, it speaks to M. Night's house style. Anytime they do one of these news broadcasts,

yes, sure, these things could be on the news any day and we'd maybe accept them. We wouldn't think it was a sign of the apocalypse or people would just be making glib apocalypse jokes on Twitter, right? Immediately. But all of the news footage they show feels like the happening.

I hear you on the news footage. It's a little, it's his thing. They don't even cut to Steve. Who's Steve? In the studio and he starts drawing, you know. Oh, it's his thing. They don't even cut to Steve. Who's Steve? In the studio, and he starts drawing, you know. Oh, a heart ackee. You see these planes. And they could have, the guys in Universal Studios,

they could have brought him in. It's also the most, the juice of this movie is the idea of Dave Bautista, who we, let's talk about. He's incredible. Right. But the idea of, like, this guy, who is such a walking contradiction in and of himself. You cannot really get your hands around. Immediately frightening, but then very gentle in his presentation.

And those things are coexisting at all times. The idea of this guy looking you in the eyes and going, you have to trust me. Right. I can't prove this to you, but this is real. Is so much more interesting, the more to trust me. Right. I can't prove this to you, but this is real, is so much more interesting the more ambiguous it is. And him saying that to you is always going to be more effective

than any imagery you can show in a set up of a movie like this. Well, right. Because how do you expand the world outside of the cabin? I don't know. It is just that thing. I very early on in this movie go, expand yeah yeah the world outside of the cabin i don't know it is just that thing i start i very

early on in this movie go why are eric and andrew being so no i didn't do that though yeah i very early on this movie i was like this is definitely just me no i know but no but i'm saying we had the same initial reaction where i was like this is true yeah this isn't fake yeah but then i had the same reaction which is like my reaction would be to fight that Which is just like the human reaction Nah I'd give in But not if you had a kid Well I don't Thanks for rubbing it in

But I'm saying like that's the tension of the movie You're like I can't kill my child's father I can't do that I can't do that I can't do that Plain lands I have to do that It's. I can't do that. I can't do that. Plane lands. I have to do that? Sure.

It's such a crazy thing. It's so upsetting and interesting. Like, you know, whereas if it's just the two of them, you know, if it's a bunch of friends, you know, then it's like, well, who do I like best? But the fact that there's a kid makes it so, like, wrenching, which is why I don't get that the kid dies in the book. Cause then I'm just like, then I would just be like, kill me now.

No, I like the idea of the ending more of just being like, well, we have experienced the most apocalyptic thing to our personal lives, which is our daughter. I just want to die. That's their point though. They're like,

no, but then it'd be just like, just kill me. Fine. They're going into the apocalypse. But being told if we kill one of each other, you'll fucking save the world. I would been like fine sure at this point sure no but i think their whole point is like we refuse to give you a fucking inch right if you're telling

us the worst thing that could happen is that we also die who gives a shit yeah but it's the rest of the world's gonna die it's the world well that's the difference between daddy eric and daddy andrew yeah as we learn in the flashbacks, Daddy Andrew has, you know, it's not easy being a gay person. Yes, Daddy Andrew has been like homophobically attacked in his life.

His parents didn't support him. Right, right. He has a much more... This is a series of concerns that were thoroughly covered in the film I ended up watching as part of a double feature after Knock at the Cabin. Which was? I now pronounce you Chuck and Lurie. Okay.

I put it on and then was like, why am I fucking watching these two movies back to back? It was pretty jarring. I'm going to go look at the wall like the Blair Witch. I'm in a Sandler phase. I'm in a Sandler phase. That's the one I put off revisiting. The pain in Taylor.

Right. Because I remember it just tries to have its cake and eat it too at the end. And you're kind of like, I don't buy it. Look, there are scenes that I was genuinely a little surprised by where I was like, Huh, that's kind of well done. Sure. And then a lot of it is exactly what you think that movie would be in 2007. I'm not interested in that one.

Yeah, no, it's not. Did Payne and Taylor write it? They wrote it and then it was Sandlerized. Right, right, right. But the... Their title, their script is called Flamers. Oh, my...

Wait, was it really? Yeah, because they're firemen. Oh, the Sandler script? No, the Payne-Taylor script is called Flamers. Because it's like based on a true story in some way, right?

No. Or whatever. No. Based on the news reports. It's based on true friendship. No, it's not. I think it's based on thought experiments. Anyway.

It's based on things that Republican congressmen say to strike fear into Fox News watchers. What if you had to marry your friend, though? Right. This fucking Kevin James guy. For health insurance. Yes. And then I'm paying for it? I can't believe I was about to speak about homophobia

and you went on an iPad and now pronounce you Chuck and Larry Detour. A movie about homophobia, all these friends turn against it. Ben, you can just sort of like highlight the section and we can evaluate it later, you know? Kevin James gives a very touching monologue where he says,

when Chuck bailed you out after you lost all your money at Atlantic City, that check he wrote you, that check wasn't too gay for you, was it? Isn't there also Rob Schneider in Yellow? Occasionally we get new listeners when we do new movies. Occasionally.

Sorry, we don't do this all the time. Oh, we do it all the time. You're right. Fuck, I tried. Yeah, no, but of course, Ben Aldridge's character, Andrewrew has a more negative view of like society and like literally just the pain of being a bit of a gripper like but yeah but the uh that although you would never own a gun the film does i would never own a gun absolutely the film i think

does make that his viewpoint feel valid even though it chooses the other viewpoint here's the thing i like yeah they make it clear he's a he's a human rights lawyer yep and he's like i do a noble thing my life is committed committed jesus where did that come from committed to trying to fight against atrocities in the world right that is why i have a lower opinion of the world right i am not some cynical jagoff some kind of whatever cabin dwelling you know it's like i'm eating the shit trying to get better every day which means i'm so much more exposed to how awful things are than you it is hard for me to maintain any optimism right and then jonathan groff's character has come from a religious background that he clearly is fighting to different degrees so a little aside yes an

interesting fact is both the actors jonathan groff and ben aldridge are gay men who were raised yes in very strict religious groff was mennonite men? Groff was Mennonite. Mennonite, yeah, sorry. And Aldridge, some form of like UK evangelicals. Yeah, he's like a British evangelical Christian. Yeah. And I think, I mean, I am... Although he's very clear, like, I am not religious in any way. And I think his parents aren't either.

Whereas I think Groff's family, I would assume, is still religious. Yeah. Well, his mom is not mennonite his father's mennonite and uh his mom is a methodist and he's raised in the methodist right um but i i i am the daughter of a gay man who goes to church every sunday and it is a thing that i constantly push back on. Not only who goes to church every Sunday, but who was annoyed at you for saying that you weren't that Catholic on the Benedetta episode.

Yes. And I was like, well, I mean, so annoyed at you that he complained to me. Yeah. Keep your line on your body. Um,

sorry. Sorry. We can cut that out. No, no, you can leave it. But the, uh,

the, it is, I think a question that a lot of, you know, queer people struggle with who want... Certainly if they were... Especially if they were raised in a religion that does not accept their identity. Yeah.

What is your relationship to faith? The new... It's now been on for for what, fucking eight years, but the Netflix Queer Eye, there's an episode in the first season that I think about a lot where Bobby was raised like very religious and knew he was gay very young

and was constantly hearing basically his internal identity that he was too afraid to verbalize to anyone, be demonized. And it's like, once I was old enough that I was out from under my parents' roof, I was never stepping foot into a church ever fucking again. And then they work with someone in one of the episodes who's like part of a

church group. And he just has this firm line of like, I'm not walking into the building. I'm not doing this. And he's sort of dealing with this woman who's like, that is not the way we run our church. That is not what we believe. We would accept you, all of this. And he's just like, you have to understand

like my oppositional resistance to this entire institution. I think it's a tough thing, but then yes, you also, you have people like your father where it's those things are sort of able to coexist. But I think it's the idea of having the sacrifice at the end. Yeah. Groff choosing to be the sacrificial lamb. Well, it's a very Christ-like scenario.

Yes. I mean, and I think it is quietly radical to have a queer person take on this role in the film. I agree. There's an interesting aspect to this. Bautista says maybe their love is, quote unquote, more pure. Uh-huh. And there is that kind of like, I feel it.

And I can't, I don't want to tell Amit Shumla what he thinks. Right. But I get the vibe from him where he's just like, I mean mean they worked harder to be in a relationship than i ever did right yeah it's harder to be gay you know they're slightly patronizing well-meaning slightly kind of like maybe there's just something more powerful about their bond blah blah right i mean they're and then how hard it would be for them to have a child. We get these little flashbacks, and there's the one where they go overseas to China to adopt their soon-to-be daughter. And it's so quietly devastating when they address them.

Because tiny moment where they go like, Mr. and Mrs. Brooks, and he goes, I'm Mr. Brooks. My wife couldn't be here today. This is her brother. And it's like, oh, this little tiny lie they have to make in order for both of them to be able to meet the child at the same time is, yeah, it's upsetting.

And I guess that's the central counter tension of this movie, right? That their immediate reaction to this is, this is a hate crime. That we are being persecuted because we are gay. They go from being, are these people insane? To, is this some sort of con? To, this is a targeted attack. And sort of their internal narrative is built of

the Ripper Grant character. He pieces together as a man who attacked him. Right. And a clear act of, you know. This was an issue. I had an issue with this.

Yeah. I talked about it after we left the movie where, let's say, you know, we're looking for tension. Is this, is talked about it after we left the movie, where let's say we're looking for tension. Is the apocalypse really happening? Sure.

And let's say we're not getting it from the news report aspect. We believe that that's real. So then they try and introduce this, well, maybe this was formulated on a message board because Rupert Grint, like 10 years ago, gay bashed Daddy Andrew in a bar in Boston. Over the head with a beer bottle.

Right. And what was clearly a homophobia-motivated drunken attack. Right. And he served time in jail for that. Did you notice that we were served a pre-roll of Boston tourism ads before the movie? Oh, yeah. I do remember that. Yeah.

I mean, like, ooh. Ooh. Grint served time in prison. When he shows up at the house, he's given a fake name to them, to even his cohorts. Yeah. So Aldridge very quickly thinks, he radicalized these people online to get revenge on me. He took vague dreams. He's been messing with it.

Batista's a bartender. You could connect these people very quickly. And also Sabrina, Nikki, the nurse character, is a nurse. And in the flashback of the bar situation, he ends up having to get stitches. So I'm like, is this all like a manifestation of his fears of being like gay bashed again? Like I was like,

is that what this movie is going to be about? Is it about trauma? Yeah. Well, it's... It is about trauma, but it's about... It isn't really about trauma. But I think it's more like,

it's like you can see things everywhere if you want to look for them, right? And that's sort of what Andrew's saying is like, look, the world might be bad, but like,

you know, the world's just bad. That doesn't mean it's about to end. It doesn't mean I was killing each other's internet now. Anyone can find

any pattern they want in anything and use it as proof that this is happening or will happen. This is an interesting and devastating contemporary parable by M. Night Shyamalan.

Yes. B plus 8 out of 10. So much of the film is about choices. Yes. You have a choice. Right. And you can choose to see the world as worth saving. Right.

Or not. Or not. But the thing about the choice in the book that kind of drives me crazy, and in the movie too, is like the idea of just like, well, we'll just face the apocalypse

and we'll at least be together. And I'm like, together? What are you, a plane's gonna land on you in five minutes. Like, come on. You're not gonna be together.

The world's gonna end. Yeah, but that's, their point is, you basically already ended the world for us. Right. What more is there to live for? At least we can die on our own terms.

Yeah, but then everyone else is going to die. Okay, who gives a shit? People suck. Yeah, how can you love your neighbor if your neighbor hates you? I understand that being their worldview after this has happened to them. I don't know. There's billions of people on the planet. I would hope you'd feel some empathy

Of learning that Hundreds of thousands of people have just died Billions of people are going to die Including children I feel like you would feel that Just like you feel the violence Of watching someone be murdered In front of you

I really found the violence And just the messaging of the violence and and it's just like i know this movie is has this whole exercise and trying to really say like a lot and they have these big ideas but like the violence to me like why aren't they so traumatized beyond belief after the first incident of death in front 100 100 violence and pain are some of the worst things in life yeah let's let's clearly come out anti-real world violence on blank check with griffin and david sure um not fans against it yeah bad avoid it at all costs and pain sucks to live through after they present this choice they're like will you kill one of you? Sure And the family's like

What? No of course not They like put a sock Over Rupert Grint's head And like hit him in the head You barely see any violence In this thing Yeah

It's almost all not shown But it's so gritty And realistic Sure It feels Back to the head Yeah It feels so banal

You can fill in the blanks Yeah And they made They made their own weapons Yeah They were told to make their weapons in this specific way. If you're trying to, like,

present a crazy idea to, like, these people, maybe not with the weapons, like, right in hand. Right. Maybe keep those off to the side. Keep them in a bag. But this is the whole,

I mean, and that face Bautista makes right at the beginning of the movie when he meets Wen and she's like I have two daddies and he goes like and you can tell this is gonna look bad for us and beyond that that they are going to have the

reasonable reaction of like you are specifically targeting us for sure this isn't some fucking Twilight Zone episode you guys are just a bunch of homophobic violent people and Batista has to be like I swear to God swear I swear to God, didn't know you were... He's doing the Seinfeld thing.

Not that there's anything wrong with that. This is totally unrelated. I had visions of planes falling from the sky. Yeah. I didn't know you were gay. It's my own thing. He says it in this tone of voice. He does.

Yeah, right. Yeah. Emma leaned over to me and said he just realized he's going to have to do a hate crime. Like, essentially, it's sort of like that extra realization that for whatever reason, within the bounds of this strange story, they didn't know who these people were going to be. How would you convince people?

Of this? I wouldn't be able to. Ben? I'd pass them a badass bone. Okay. Big old spleef. And we'd smoke. And then I'd be like alright man

but they're not of sane mind they have to be that's why him getting the concussion he had to recover from it they have to be like they have to clearly choose there has to be like intention yeah

well now I'm stumped can I roll back to just talk about the central difference between what the book ends up being and what the movie ends up being and what the movie ends up being? Right. With the full acknowledgement, the four of us have only read the Wikipedia entry. 100%.

100%. Yeah. Some people like the book a lot, although other people have told me they really didn't like the book. Yeah. Yeah. This is the thing I find most interesting about the movie, though, and it gets to why I'm in such an absolutist,

like I would tell them to go fuck off and just face whatever comes with my partner. Right. Is that I know you're talking about trying to appeal to my sense of empathy of would you actually want all those people to die just to stubbornly prove a point or to be vindictive against these people caused you this much pain. Right. Or because you feel so numb inside that like, why does it fucking matter anymore?

There's the other element of this we're we're not discussing which is if they are correct and the apocalypse is about to happen if you just walk off into the sunset with your partner and go people be damned that is the deliberate act of a vengeful god it is not like oh there's an existential there there's an environmental disaster that somehow you have the ability to stop that might be random, right? This is the thing about religion. Exactly. There's something inexplicable that you have to accept. Reading stuff about the book, that's what people say is interesting about the ending

is they're basically like, if you're telling me that this is what we need to do in order to appease God to stop this from happening, and God has already taken our daughter and that's not good enough for him, then fuck God. This whole thing, it sucks. It is the thing I find most interesting about this movie is the way so many M. Night Shyamalan movies are hinged on not even the twist ending as much as

what is his thematic concern? What is the thing he's dealing with? Something like signs where you're like crop circles. Could it be aliens? Is he actually making an alien movie? Is Unbreakable actually going to be a movie about what if superheroes are real, right? He'll make these movies where it takes a concept that we're

used to in genre fiction, pulpier concepts, and bring them down to a more terrestrial level, character-based, and sort of how would real people, quote-unquote, deal with this, right? And this is his one movie for how would real people quote unquote deal with this right and this is his one movie for how much his body of work deals with faith this is one movie where that central question is basically what if god was real and what if the proof you had of it was

terrifying you know yeah if you take this movie at face value it's like and god is deciding that all planes fall from the sky at the same time that tsunamis are happening, at the same time that a pandemic starts evolving at extraordinary speed. So it's like the story of when one of the guys had to kill his whole family to appease God,

which to me is like an awful story. The binding of Isaac is what you're talking about. Yeah. Isaac? Yeah. God said to Abraham, kill me a son. I've never been to church. I don't know anything about the Bible or organized religion. But you know Bob Dylan.

I do know Bob Dylan. God said to Abraham, bring me a son. Oh, shit. Is that what that's referencing? The Old Testament, my friend. Damn, down on Highway 61. Bob, Bob, Bob. God says to Abraham, like, alright, you believe in me, right? And Abraham's like, yeah, you, God says to Abraham, like, all right, you believe in me, right?

And Abraham's like, yeah, you're God. And God's like, man, I'm not really feeling it. You know your only son, Isaac, who your wife had when she was like 100 years old, thanks to me? He's like, yeah. He's like, top of the mountain, dead by morning, please. And Abraham does it. Yes. And when he's about to kill Isaac, God's like, all right, all right.

It was a test. It was a test. It was a test. Just kidding. Good job. Good job. You passed. Now live the rest of your life normally. This movie coming from an outsider

who then went to Catholic school and was indoctrinated with all the stories of the Bible for years and years and years of his life, studying them closely, right? And using them to build up his own sense of narratives. Yeah.

Right? And how stories are told and all of that. Here, this movie, you present the logline of this film to anyone. Four strangers show up in a cabin, hold your parents and their young child hostage, and say the world's going to end unless you make a terrible choice, sacrifice, whatever. It's like you said, it's like a trolley pop.

Right. You're like, what a great classic horror movie thriller setup. Cabin in the Woods. But then if you actually take it that face value, you're like, no, it's like any of these Bible stories that are terrifying, where God's voice comes down and he's like, here's the deal.

I'm going to flood fucking everyone. Everyone's gone. Pick animals and say goodbye to everyone else you know. Why? Because they suck. Fuck them. And you close the book and you're like, what am I supposed to take away from that?

And you go to like, and look, there are theologians. Bible stories are terrifying. Well, especially take away from that and you go to like and look there are theologians are terrifying especially old testament ones and you go to like theologians and they have all kinds of interesting readings on them and there are people who can give you informed sort of takes sure like here's what was going on at the time when these things were written thinking of that yeah but the binding of isaac it is kind of it's like that's we're trying to define how faith is baby yeah it's. It's something like irrational and insane. And it's like mafia rules.

It's like leading through fear. And so this is... I can make an example of you. It's what God's saying through a fucking bush. Has a profile of Shyamalan that's in the New Yorker. I read it on my way here. Which is worth reading. And at one point, Shyamalan says that he thinks you could

take his ending. You know, I don't think they spoil the ending of the story, but like you could take his ending as darker. And I know what he means. Because like his ending essentially confirms yes, there is some sort of unknowable force and he is appeased by human sacrifice. That sucks.

Right. That does suck. No, I agree. It's dark as hell. Right, it's dark. But then, of course, there is also this sort of like weird Shyamalani flip side where he's like, but humans are kind of magic

and love is kind of transcendent. And that is some sort of like force that like balances that. Which is so wild! Yeah. It's wild stuff! I know you're

sort of recently, you know, you're viewing films differently, as many people do when they become a parent. I found this film so hard to watch. But new films hit you differently. Rewatching old films hit you differently. Although I weirdly knew the kid was not at risk. There's just kind of that thing in your,

you're like, there's no way. But I love how flat, like whenever something bad's about to happen, they're like, go away. Yeah. Yeah. Cover your ears. Let's also say good kid.

Shaman's always good with kids. He's good with kids. Outside of Avatar the Last Airbender. We don't talk about that. But your review is, your review for The Elan, which is very good, was mostly about him making these movies.

He seems to be very hung up night on, how do you bring children into a world? How do you keep them safe? Is this a moral act? In a world that feels so hostile and out of control. Old is so much about that, obviously. He talks about that in the profile. Have you read it? Yes, I have.

He says, these are my fears. I got married when I was 22. I have three girls. We're incredibly close. My parents are nearby. My sister is nearby. Our family is incredibly tight. Like, it's clearly, you know, like, that's what he, you know. All I'm saying is I think it's interesting that he got married young. He had kids young. His daughters are, like, young adults now.

They are, like, in their 20s. I think the youngest is in her late teens. Like, he's grappling with stuff not as a new parent, but as someone who's rapidly becoming an empty nester. Yeah. That feel like new parent concerns. That is interesting to me. And I even think so much of...

Blast ends up being so much still about Elijah's mother. It does. That stuff's so interesting in that movie. Yeah. That movie. I should rewatch that movie. And I liked it. It's a Glastropiece. The Visit is obviously a interesting in that movie. Yeah. That movie. I should re-watch that movie. And I liked it. It's a Glastropies.

The Visit is obviously a weird movie about parenting. Yeah. You know what else The Visit is? Bugnuts. Insane. Bugnuts? I think Adam Neiman said it was his best movie. Did he? In that profile. It was either him or in Bilge's thing. It's a dang good one.

No, Bilge's best thing is The Village. I think Old is is the best since The Village. I think Old is his best movie since The Village. I think The Village is his best movie. I put Old top. Old is just...

I forget how we ranked. I have it fourth. Yeah. Because I do have Unbreakable and Sixth Sense over it. Sixth Sense is just so magic. See, I put Village below... Right, you don't like

The Village as much as I do. I do Unbreakable, Sixth Sense, Old, Village. Village is another movie that just feels so related to this though So I think that's where Bilge is coming from Because it's also a movie about like That's a movie about people who are like

I cannot deal with contemporary society It is too depressing Let's live in a village And you know like The consequences of that Are what the movie is about But it came out after 9-11 and it just so,

so profoundly is like a post-9-11 movie. Yeah, it's just funny to me that the parental fears feel more front and center now in his career

at a point. And he's also talked so much about the era where he felt like he lost his way a little bit as a director. He was like, the more I became a dad

and I had young daughters and I was surrounded by kids, the less I wanted to make aggressively scary movies. Sure, he has that middle period where he's like making stuff like The Last Airbender or Lady in the Water. After Earth. Right. Yeah. You know, even Happening feeling a little hollow

despite it being like, oh, he's going to go hard. This movie feels like a better Happening to me as well. I agree with that. Like there's sort of like the earth is turning hostile to us in ways we can't understand but this is also my problem with the news broadcast is the news broadcast feels so happening to me that it's just like that excuse i want to be i don't want to kind of agree with the news broadcast make your teeth hurt a little bit they're gonna be a little better made yes you have right you have to have them in some form. You need some recognition from the outside world. But maybe you just, but I mean, look.

Yeah. It's M. Night Shyamalan. It's M. Night. There's the whole thing with him. His movies are so sincere. The dialogue is so sincere. It's true in this movie. And if it goes wrong, it's a disaster.

If a Mark Wahlberg, God bless him, is handed that dialogue, it just comes out insane. I'm going to have to make a tough decision here today. It comes out in this way you're like no one has ever spoken this way I'm a defender of the happening because I think some of the

because you side with the trees I think some of the set pieces in that movie are extraordinary there are some chilling moments in the happening there's no question I don't think there are any set pieces in Knock at the Cabin. No, there's not.

It's a totally different thing. I was hungry. Old felt like a visual feast for me. Yeah. You know, he was doing a lot of fun stuff. Yeah, the lady going all broken bones. He's got a lot of interesting oners. I think Knock at the the cabin started interesting.

Like, I love the opening scene. Yeah. How the camera, we just get. The insane close-ups. We get closer and closer on David Bautista. And I think her name's Kristen Chu. Her name is Kristen Kui. I don't know how you pronounce it

C-U-I I don't know and the angle the canted angles every time they cut back and forth between them that stuff was incredible the Rupert Grint

putting the cameras on Grint when he's getting beaten up that was cool and then it just kind of what about the when the camera like locks 90 degrees?

I thought that was cool. That's kind of it. That's kind of it. Is that what that movie called? Yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. But that doesn't give me

any more of those moments. It's got a lot of those close-ups throughout the film. Do you want to talk a little to what we were talking about yesterday? Because you made some interesting revelations. So there are two credited

cinematographers on this film. Yep. And I think Knight is publicly saying that it was a scheduling conflict situation and my secret source has told me that it is not. It was creative differences, a fairly contentious split. Yes. Yeah.

Is it Jaron Blash who got fired? Yeah. Yeah. Well, so Jaron Blashki, I believe is his name, is Robert Eggers' cinematographer. Correct. He shot all his movies. Yes.

And then the other guy credited is a guy who works on Servant. Correct. Yeah. Yeah. But the thing Marie was saying yesterday is that it also sounds like perhaps this movie was shot in chronological order. Because this is a film that would be easy enough to shoot. And he likes to do that. Yeah.

The cabin sequences were mostly shot in chronological order. Sure. Well, sure. Then there's the flashbacks and stuff. But it definitely felt like the movie lost some juice. The most interesting stuff cinematically is all happening in the first 20-30 minutes of the movie. Sure, I can see that. And I don't know, I mean,

I don't know if what we're seeing on the screen is like a choice or it is the product of a difficult production that the movie feels that way. Can we do some Batista digging? Yeah. is the product of a difficult production that the movie feels that way. But... Can we do some Batista digging?

Yeah. I love how his glasses fit on his... Anytime he wears glasses in a movie, I... Which is awesome. He's usually wearing glasses of some sort and they always work. They always work.

They felt so tight around his head. His little shirt. His top of his head. It looks like you could see his brain. It looks like you can see his brain. It looks like the wrinkles of the brain. I love when guys have that. There's a guy I used to work with named Datu who had like brain wrinkles.

And I would just, when I would zone out at work, I'd just stare at the back of his head. Everything about him is just so physically compelling. Yes, he is a visually compelling figure before he even starts talking yeah yes but then his you know his his way of delivering dialogue is also just incredibly compelling yes i i mentioned this in my review you know he played a very sincere character in the guardians of the galaxy yes he's playing a similarly sincere character here in a wildly

different style yes he's very good at sincerity Which is good for Shyamalan And he's like A very emotionally open actor And Shyamalan has a tendency to often Go who is the biggest star Right now That I can get or who's like a very interesting

Fairly new on the scene guy But also I mean he made movies with Willis Gibson, Will Smith, all at their career peaks. Those guys were huge. You know, like big A-list men. To an extent. Is Wahlberg,

is that post-Departed when The Happening comes out? It's right after? I want to say it's the immediate follow-up to The Knot. Two years. Two years after.

Sure. But maybe the first movie he signs up for after that. Right. Yeah. But Batista's kind of an outside-the-box leading man for him. In some ways. I mean, I think more recently it's more because it's like McAvoy. Sure.

Gail Garbusier, Bernal, and Vicky Crease. That movie's so ensemble-y, though, too. But I'm saying he's more picking Interesting Well liked critically He's also look he's so financially He doesn't want to pay people with big quotes Cheaper actors but like not cheap in like a bad way No no The thing with Batista

I interviewed Rian Johnson Yes Where's my applause Thank you And has your check arrived in the mail yet? He just handed it to me Sure He just gave it to me

Yeah Thank you for saying all the nice things About a movie you couldn't possibly like About Glass Onion Sure And one of the questions I asked was like Well first I asked like Are you writing for actors?

And he's like I don't do that because you're gonna disappoint yourself Right? You know like If you write with an actor in mind Then you can't get him It's gonna ruin it And then I said like Who are you writing for actors? And he's like, I don't do that because you're going to disappoint yourself. Right. You know, like if you're right with an actor of mine, then you can't get them. It's going to ruin it. And then I said like,

who did you cast who you didn't expect or whatever? And he said, Bautista. Yeah. Because who else would have played? He wrote that part entirely differently. That part was supposed to be a skinny men's rights. Basically,

it's, he should have been Jordan Peterson. And as I've heard him basically say, like the idea of the guy being that physically dominant went against my entire initial conception of the character being kind of a wimp. And he said that his casting person, I forget her name,

was the one who suggested Bautista. And then he was just like, Paul Thomas Anderson is someone who's going to use that guy. Yeah. And make everyone else look like an idiot. He's like the most interesting actor around right now. Yes. And I was like, I said, like, he's the best wrestler to actor ever. Yeah. He's like the most interesting actor around right now. And I was like,

I said like he's the best wrestler to actor ever. It's not even a comparison. Right, right. It's not. And look, there are other acting wrestlers I like a lot. Yeah. But Batista, both in how he is structuring his career, who he is working with,

how he's testing himself. Yeah. And it feels like he's finding some internal conflict in all of his castings. I could do Stuber. Here's the thing I find really interesting. That's rare. Wait, so his name is Stu and he drives an Uber?

Get out of here. Yeah. You'll never finance this film. David's best review headline of all time. What was that? I give Stuber five stars, parentheses, out of ten. That seems generous. It's a five.

It's all right. It's a five. Hey, look. I haven't seen it. We didn't know how lucky we were getting three studio comedies a year in theaters just four short years ago. Stuber, apparently the last golden age.

This is what I was going to say. Guardians of the Galaxy, obviously his big breakout, right? That role ends up being more of a comedic role. A thing I love about the guy is he does not mince words. He speaks very openly and honestly in every single interview. In a way where you're like, Dave. Dave, watch your career a little bit.

But I have to love how much this guy is not playing any optics game, right? He's not trying to get his Q score higher or play nice with the studios or whatever. He's basically like, Drax is a pretty tragic character on the page. I was cast drawn to that. The more I showed myself being good at the comedy, the more everyone started leaning into the comedy

and it now feels like the character has mostly become a comedic character and that's a little sad to me. I feel like there were a lot of dramatic sides of this guy I never got to play. Right? Yeah. Everyone's like, well, fuck, this guy just proved himself. What's he going to do now with his career?

He doesn't really go and do a bunch of action movies. He weirdly does like a couple direct-to-video like Kickboxer 3 and Escape Plan 2. Sure. Kickboxer Vengeance. But he doesn't immediately go and get his own Europa Corp movie. He doesn't do his own Screen Gems January revenge thriller or whatever, right? Then he's like, okay, I could do a couple comedies. He does My Spy and Stuber.

Both of them, you're like, this guy should be, there should be a better playing against type comedy for Batista than what we're giving him. He's pretty good in Hotel Artemis. He's very good in that, but this is the thing. Off to the side, he's like, here's my supporting character

actor career. Right. What are interesting scripts? What are parts that play against my type? Who are directors I want to work with? Blade Runner.

Right. That. Stuber, obviously. At a time when, obviously, The Rock and John Cena are so algorithmic in the moves of,

you need one of these for your portfolio and one of these and one of those and one of these, and one of those, and whatever. And you have to win every fight, and you better always be the hero, and you better be so macho. He also, even though he is huge, I don't know why, he just doesn't have that problem of like, well, this is the largest man in the world. Like, you're not real. You're not a real person. Marie was talking about

his use of glasses in different movies, right? Yeah. And he's a really good glasses actor. He's got his tiny little glasses and Blade Runner, right? In Army of the Dead, a movie he is really,

really good in and a movie you wish was kind of at his level. Sure. That's his most conventional, like, action movie badass role, right? And he is as soft-spoken in that movie as he is in this.

And he does the entire film wearing glasses with, like, an old person chain around them. Around his neck so they stay on his head and everything. Right? Yeah. He doesn't take up space. No. Like, he's so compact. Like, the way that he holds his body, the way that he moves is so small.

He doesn't want to be taking up people's space. Like the way that he holds his body, the way that he moves is so small. He doesn't want to be taking up people's space. But it was maybe our friend, Mike Ryan maybe did this interview with him. Mike Ryan definitely did an interview with him. He did a new one. But I'm trying to remember around when Army of the Dead came out. And they asked about the glasses thing and what an unconventional choice that was for the lead in an action movie. And he basically said like, I look like a silverback gorilla. Like, I just have insane proportions,

and I know how extreme I look on screen, and I'm covered in tattoos, and I have this really deep voice. And I think a lot of other guys like me are constantly doing the math on how to look tougher on screen. And I think it's so much more interesting to find things I can do visually

that cut me down to size that play against it like I want to find ways to normalize myself and he said when he met with Shyamalan this was in the Mike Ryan interview he met with Shyamalan right after he finished filming Guardians 3 this is in the Mike Ryan

it's really interesting where he's like I'm gonna be huge Drax is like he's like that's the biggest I ever get and he comes in in Drax mode and he's like i'm sorry i'm so big i can cut it down and shaman said can you get bigger right and he said like it's easy for me to get bigger yeah i just eat a lot of food and like lift a lot are you sure you want this and he's like i want to push you to even more extremes i want you to go quieter in performance than you've ever been i want you to be the biggest you've ever been on screen. Wow. Well, he looks big.

Yeah. But he's then, yeah, he's got his nice little button up, tucked in. Yeah. He looks like a nice parole officer. He does. Or a nice school teacher. Yeah, I mean, you buy him as a school teacher, even though he, like, are second grade teachers allowed to have tattoos? Like, a lot of visible ones

I don't know you know his thing where people ask him like how many tattoos he has and he's like three and they're like what he's like because they're like all connected right basically there's like left right back I remember walking out of guardians and kind of being like low-key the best one was I remember you out of Guardians and kind of being like

low-key the best one was Batista I remember you saying that to me you will not believe this but Dave Batista is the best because everyone was so excited about pretty much everyone in that movie but him because he was just sort of like the oh it's a wrestler playing a big muscle alien I think it was everyone saying like oh really they couldn't get Momoa

like there was this feeling of yeah and then I walked out and I was like he's very funny he has like like 12 good lines like it's not just like a couple jokes like he's kind of hits hits a layup or hits a three pointer like every 10 minutes in that movie right he also just the whole press door for this movie keeps on saying these things that are so endearing about like that lee Pace quote that when he went to audition for Guardians and the casting director told him they had just cast Lee Pace as the villain right and she went do you know Lee and he said no and he went that guy's incredible he can do anything and he was like in that moment I crystallized that's the career I want to be I want to say

that about me yeah I want and I feel like I I play so specifically on screen but I would like to prove myself to a point where people say, Dave Bautista, he can do anything. I think Lee Pace is really good in Guardians of the Galaxy. It's just cool that he did that. No, I love that too. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I, you know, recently he was quoted as saying

that he wants to be cast in romantic comedies. But no one's. But no, is he not cute enough? Yeah. Well, I mean, they don't really make rom-coms. No. But, you know, there's a couple coming out this year. There's always the hope for the kind of like...

Well, who would you cast opposite Batista? I also feel like... Holly Hunter. Stuber. Stuber, he does not have a love interest. Stuber, he's like a single father. Yeah. And his partner is dead.

It's kind of the rock vibes of like, that's often how he gets cast, right? And then my spy... Of course, he is like in his, what my spy with with the of course he is like in his what late 40s no he's like 50 54 you know so like there's a little bit of like he can't he can't be playing someone who's like well i'm i'm just young and single and hitting the bars like he has to have some very protective of his daughter in that movie and he's mourning the death of his female partner uh my spy i I admit, I could not make it through. I don't know if they give him

perfunctory love. I'm not going to fire up My Spy. I'm going to be honest with you, Dave. Don't hit me. I'm not going to do it. I don't want to do it. Don't make me watch My Spy. The most watched film

in the history of Amazon or some shit. Sure. Anyway. I don't know. It does feel like he doesn't get love interest and Drax is haunted by his dead wife and children.

Yes. So, sure. Give him a love interest. Reese Witherspoon. She's so small. I want the Four Christmases poster where she's standing on top of... Right. She uses him as some sort of like... Big and soft and...

Yeah. Holly Hunter. Yeah, Holly Hunter. She's also short. Spark plug. I do think Groff is great and as I have quite enjoyed Groff's career. You're a fan of Groff. Yeah. I'm a fan of Groff or you're all fans?

I feel like you're particularly a fan of Groff. Yeah, I like Groff. I thought he killed it in Matrix and in this. I like it, Groff. Oh, boy. You sure? Yeah. He was good in...

I saw him on Broadway. In Hamilton? Spring Awakening? No. In... Little Shop of Horrors? Yeah. Yeah.

Playing the Griffin Newman part? Too hunky. Playing the Griffin Newman part. Too hunky. I waited for Gideon Glick. I said, call me when you're Seymour's under six feet.

Yeah. Glick fun. Glick was good. Theater camp, you know, that's coming out this year. Did you guys watch the Spring Awakening Those We've Known? under six feet. Yeah. Glick fun. Glick was good. Theater camp, you know, that's coming out this year. Did you guys watch the Spring Awakening Those We've Known thing

on HBO? I just watched the relevant clips. Did you watch the footage of Jonathan Groff's Amish Country Sleepover where they bust the entire cast

in school buses to spend a night on Jonathan Groff's family farm in Lancaster, Pennsylvania? Yeah. So fun. That was like a good time. He's just such a perfect for Shyamaster, Pennsylvania. That sounds fun. Yeah. So fun. Sounds like a good time.

He's just such a perfect fit for Shyamalan's thing. Because there's stuff in this movie that would fall very, very flat in the wrong hands. No, you're right. You need earnest, wet eyes. Super earnestness, right. Yes, yes. And he is good at that without you just sort of feeling

whatever, like you're watching an episode of TV. He's one of those guys. Look, and it's something like The Matrix. It's fun to watch him rip into and rel episode of the movie. He's one of those guys, look, and it's something like The Matrix, it's fun to watch him rip into and relish playing the opposite, and certainly Hamilton's the same thing, but Groff is unusually good in a way that few people are

at playing uncomplicated people. You know? And there are some inner complications to this guy, but Groff is the rare actor who can sell like, oh, this is just a good person if he needs to. Right. Right. Which is sort of crucial to this movie as well, obviously, because like there's only so much time for that kind of stuff. You do have to kind of quickly be like, I get this guy. I get that guy. You know, like I get everyone. When they do the flashback to the meeting with the parents, is it Aldridge's parents or? It's Aldridge's parents. That's the

thing. Right. Contributing to his worldview. Yes his world yes yes okay that's what i thought yeah you have this brief scene where they kind of don't even know how to make small talk right boyfriend for the first time they've essentially driven for hours to come and sit with them quietly it's the good line of they drove seven hours to talk for 45 minutes and then you also see i think the phone rings and then groff's like that's my parents calling to see how it went yes mom who's clearly like more you know engaged with the family look this is the fucking like it's pretty impressive economical screenwriting from sean malone good movie people can i you know shit on him for all the reasons of taste and tone they want but a thing that bugs me is when people go like and how does this guy still not know how to you know, shit on him for all the reasons of taste and tone they want.

But a thing that bugs me is when people go like, and how does this guy still not know how to write a screenplay? And I'm like, structurally, the guy's really fucking strong. And he knows how to convey information really quickly and effectively. Much like how people made fun of that Top Gun screenplay nomination. And other people, Justly, were sort of like,

this is a nomination for like structure and economic storytelling. Like, it's not like... The script is rock solid. It's an incredible script and even though it was written by like eight people

or whatever, like, you know, and it's like, you know, cheesy lines, sure, okay, good job. You spotted a cheesy line. Right, who gives a shit?

Maverick said, not today, you know, asshole. Yeah, you know what? I walked up to the box office and I spent $17 and I said, one ticket to Top Gun Maverick said not today you know asshole yeah you know what I walked up to the box office and I spent $17 and I said one ticket to Top Gun Maverick please

I would be disappointed if he didn't say shit like that what are you complaining about I don't know it's a movie about Maverick do you think there's a line like a line of

action in the in the script that's like Maverick throws the rule book in the trash yes rule book is thrown in the trash.

So sick. You've said this before, David. It would be funny if he sat down with the rule book. He's like, okay, so rule one, of course, is don't fly your plane too fast. And rule two is always listen to instructions. Rule three, throw the rule book in the trash. Oh, shit. Everyone's furiously scratching out the first.

No, ignore those last two rules trash uh david you you've made this defense before in the past uh when shamalan's getting attacked i'm sure when shamalan's a trial and i rise to my feet yes but i feel like the comparison point i've heard you make before is like no one criticizes yorgos Lanthimos for his dialogue being as stilted and heightened and stylized. Old Yorgie. Yeah. And you're like, the difference is that people think they're smarter than Shyamalan, and he is trying and failing to write realistic conversational dialogue. Yeah.

Rather than accepting the man has chosen the thing he wants to do. Yeah, we can't all be Ed Burns. No. I mean, look.ppy new york repartee at any moment in time god i'm so neurotic i put my ears up to the sidewalk and i just hear it burns i recently of new york the brothers mcpodcast oh the brothers Podcasts of New York The Brothers McPodcast The Brothers McPodcast I have gone dad mode And I don't mean that I'm Now you like all Ed Burns movies

No I recently rewatched Saving Prevot Ryan And I'm currently watching Band of Brothers Oh yeah you've been watching war shit I watched Band of Brothers last year Incredible experience And I'm reading a lot of Wikipedia articles about battles Like dad My wife will keep being like what are you reading And I'm reading a lot of Wikipedia articles about battles Like dad My wife will keep being like

What are you reading And I'm like Battle of the Bulge What is the matter with you That you've been reading over the last couple years You've read a lot of books about presidents That's the most dad shit I've ever heard Who's your number one

LBJ Have you been to the library in Austin No I would love to go They've got an anim one? LBJ. Me too. Yeah, I mean, I read all the carolers. Have you been to the library in Austin? No, I would love to go. Let's go. I'm a tronic LBJ there. Uh-oh. Does he bully you? Well, no, there is like a standout, like, cardboard cutout of him, like, leaning over, you know,

to take a picture of yourself with getting the Johnson treatment. Fine. I can talk about going dad mode. Although now I can't remember why I can talk about going dad mode. Although now I can't remember why I was talking about doing dad mode. Ed Burns. Ed Burns.

Oh, right. And I rewatched Saving Private Ryan and I was like, it's a real insult that the one who lives is fucking Ed Burns. You know what's crazy? I rewatched Saving Private Ryan.

Diesel dies. Goldberg. That guy's fun. Tom Hanks, her to him. That's like war is hell. They're like, not only is war really bad,

Ed Burns lives. You watch your best only is war really bad, Ed Burns lives. You watch your best friends die in your arms and Ed Burns lives to make 16 more movies. Knock at the cabin. A TNT series. Life isn't fair. Yeah. Life isn't fair.

Life isn't fair. Bad things happen. You know what's crazy? The deck gets stacked against you. Great movies, the great masterpiece is part of the fun is every time you watch them, there's somehow something new that reveals yourself. It reveals themselves to you in

the film, you know? Yeah. I re-watched Saving Private Ryan as well, David. I had never picked up on before. Ed Byrne's character is from Brooklyn. What? What? Are you sure? I did not re-watch Saving Private Ryan. That's not a re-watch.

No Bill Simmons, but that's not a re-watch. He's from Brooklyn. Is it Brooklyn, New York? Brooklyn, New York. I feel like he writes it somewhere on his clothes, maybe. Really? Because I was watching a 4K. I didn't see it. Do we confirm it's New York, though?

Because there's other Brooklyns. Yes. I'm from Brooklyn in the Netherlands. Brookline matches your visits. Brooklyn. I just want to give a shout out to the one actress we haven't really talked about. Abby Quinn? Abby Abby Quinn Who plays Adrian So I don't know her

She's in Landline She's in Landline So I've seen her in things Dylan Jalula Not really Dylan's great We love you Dylan But I thought she was great

She's really good She's probably not listening. I'm not listening. But I thought she was great. She's really good. She's got a great face. I think you really cast really well with all four of the people. Where you very quickly are like, this person seems like they believe what they're saying. Yes. And also like someone who might be a bit of an odd loner in their life. Well, he's also sort of doing the Demi thing.

It's so many real extended close-up, your face filling the frame, your monologue, and they're basically staring straight down the barrel. And you as the audience member are going, can I take this person at face value or not? Do I believe what they're saying? I'm looking into their soul. Do I believe what they're saying?

I almost once again feel like it is a hindrance to the movie and at face value or not. Do I believe what they're saying? I'm looking into their soul. Do I believe what they're saying? I almost, once again, feel like it is a hindrance to the movie that all four of the performances are this good where I just, from basically their entrance into the house, feel convinced by them. I see. I just... I don't know. I think that's a strength.

I think this is just where we disagree. But they're all for... I mean, you don't like Grant. Yeah, I don't like Grant. Yeah. I don't like Grant. Expelling Armus! Wow!

You would just drop anything you were holding. Oh, right. That's all that one is? It's disarming. That's just knocking your books down in the hall. Well, usually it's to disarm your wand. Disarm the wand. Saying face.

Stupify! Does Crucio, is that the one that turns you, like it fucks up your limbs? Crucio tortures you. Yeah, that one's pretty cool. What's the one... Crucio, is that the one that turns you like it fucks up your limbs? Yeah, that one's pretty cool. You can't do that one. It's unforgivable. What's the one where you like break someone's brain to the extent that they're willing to destroy their entire reputation online over like petty tweets?

Let me check. That one is a... I don't want to even do the joke. She sucks. Yeah, she's bad. Yeah, so The cabin seems nice yeah i would i would want phone signal personally yeah i also they cut the the court i mean like basically before they show up it's a nice looking airbnb cabin yeah there's one downside to it though which is four people show up and tell you that you're going to have to make a terrible, terrible choice. I feel like it's been a tough couple of months at the movies for Airbnb.

We got Barbarian. We got Knock at the Cabin. We got David's Toronto Airbnb story. The most terrible. The most terrible Airbnb story. The crater after that episode. It just, no, it would be funny if the cabin was bad. Yeah. After that episode. It just, no, it'd be funny if the cabin was bad. Yeah.

And then, cause then like Ben Aldridge could say like, first the, you know, sheets were scratchy. Now this is happening. Yeah. At the end of the movie,

the last line is two stars. Two stars. Water pressure bad. Also, you know, home and beer. The cabin industry must be so excited that the new evil dead is in an apartment building. They're like,

finally. Right. Someone else going to shoulder. The PR team is like, we can take a vacation. We can take, we can finally, sales are going to bounce.

My last episode was the avatar episode. Sure. I talked about Legos. Yes. Because my therapist's office is famously next to the Lego store. So I went in yesterday and I was like, this is so stupid. Like they're not going to be Knock at the cabin Legos

But guess what They have a cabin They have a cabin set But they don't have There's no one knocking right No You don't know I mean the whole thing of Lego is

I guess you could buy You're losing your imagination You could put drafts Yeah put drafts on there You could buy a Harry Potter set Yeah You can start putting stuff together Stay tuned Maybe there's a Hamilton set You could get Gro Harry Potter set. You could stuff yourself together.

Stay tuned. Maybe there's a Hamilton set. You could get Groff. There isn't. Yeah, I think. I'm trying to think of Groff. I think Groff is just a classic, like, yellow. You could get Sven.

You could get a Sven from Frozen. Oh, you're right. There you go. Okay. So now we're only three cast members away, maybe? Sven is the good boy with the reindeer. Is that what he plays? Yeah Right And that's why everyone was mad

That you didn't sing in the first Frozen Yes He sings It's like he's a good singer Five seconds Yeah Sure He sings

Reindeers are better than people That's it But then in the second one He had that Lost in the Woods song Yeah And it was pretty good It was Oh

Frozen 2 Rewatch that one Still weird Weird Still a movie that takes A lot of right turns Out of nowhere Yeah Frozen 2 rewatch that one still weird weird still a movie that takes a lot of right turns out of nowhere

I went to see it with Romney and she just turned to me halfway through and she went is this bad but it was one

of those experiences where you you have to ask it as a question you're like am I like missing something here or is this movie

not good oh boy is there anything else you want to talk about with Knock at the Cabin? Do you guys have air fryers? No.

I do. I just don't have the counter space. I do. Why are we bringing this up? Because M. Night plays an air fryer. Oh, sure. Of course. That chicken does look good.

Yeah, I'm pro the night cameo in this one. Yeah, it's fine. It would only heighten my believability of like, the world might be ending. Isn't that a nice shot? You want proof? Watch this. heighten my believability of like, that world might be ending. Isn't that a nice show? A lot of my time is ending. You want proof? Watch this.

Can you believe they let this man on television 12 hours a day? I'm very interested by what he does next because I do feel like he's consistently surprising right now.

Yes. Like he's, he's, like that he's working quick. I was going to say, it doesn't feel like he's overthinking it. It's just following whims of what excites him.

Nothing hinted at next, right? Not that I know of. Yeah. He had a two-picture deal of which this ends. Right. But I'm assuming Universal's going to re-up. You know, this movie's tracking to open around 15 to 20. And it costs 20?

Yeah. So, what do we think comes out on top this weekend? Knock or 80 for Brady? Okay, so I think knock will. Yeah. What do you think, Griffin? I mean, I guess people are wondering now

is 80 for Brady about to overperform, right? Is there going to be some secret, you know, 80-something Brady fan? I'm planning on going. Yeah. Are you? Yeah.

I'm making my fiancé go because I need context. Oh, double humble brag. Sure. Yeah, I know. For the Super Bowl, you're saying? No, just... For his life. Yeah, for just football in general. Okay. And this is a good answer. 80 for Brady is one of those movies where

not just the poster, but any promotional image of it, I'm like, is this Photoshopped? Yes. Like, it just sort of looks fake to have Lily Tomlin wearing a Pats jersey. Third-party Photoshop replacement app on a phone. Like, doesn't this look fake? Yes.

Yes. Nah, that looks real to me. But it's also... That is some real-ass hair on Jane Fonda. It looks like the poster was done on a phone app over 3G. 3G that was in and out. Some of it was too. Right.

What would you call this like micro genre? This sort of book club genre? Yeah. It's like, let's take a bunch of Oscar nominees. At the book club two trailer I saw before. Otto. How is that looking? Incredible.

Oh, yeah? What are they reading this time? Candace getting buckets. Well, of course. Does it open with Candace Bergen doing a 360 spin and dunking it? Are they? Yeah, she does a tomahawk slam. They're going to Italy, right?

Yes. Are they reading like an Elena Ferrante novel? No. What are they fucking reading? They read trash in that book club. That's probably too good for them. No. Marie, can you look it up?

Yeah. You got your computer in front of you. Book Club 1 was one of my best slash greatest movie going experiences ever i'd had a great i saw it at the americana yeah in glendale on a bunch of edibles and i could not believe what i was watching i can't wait for bc too i mean that movie with the like youtube karaoke backgrounds like it's so funny the 80 for Brady, my question is, they did these sort of special preview screenings with a free glass of wine and a Tumblr or whatever.

And those seem to do really well. And I think that's... And people were obviously posting who went to them. And I think that's why people are like, oh, fuck, is this movie about to open a lot bigger than we thought? I wonder if that took a lot of the excitement out of it. But yeah, I guess people are saying it's fun. Also, fun fact, it's directed by the guy who made the climb did you see the

climb yeah good movie yeah good movie that played at can yeah i mean okay okay move but you know there was something there that's pretty good yeah i know a lot of good people but my friend uh zach cooperstein dp of barbarian dp the. It's a good looking movie. I, yeah. I remember that movie being a little cute. I think this is directed by the producer of The Climb. No. No? Are you sure about that?

It's one of the two guys. Okay. There were like two Mikes. Yeah. And one of them, its name isn't Mike Cimino, but it begins with a C. And it's written by the women who originally wrote Booksmart. I hate to tell you this, Marie, but Griffin is correct. It's directed by the producer of The Climb, Kyle Marvin.

No, Kyle's the guy in The Climb. Okay. I think he also produced it, but he did not direct it. Did Michael direct it? They're like a partnership. Kyle is the one who directed... Michael Angelo Covino is the guy who directed it. Yeah, he's the other guy who's in The Climb

So Kyle wrote it Yeah So Yeah one of the guys Right Yeah They climb What did they cheat on each other's wives or whatever

I don't know I saw it Yeah Spoiler alert For that tiny indie movie Don't they cheat on each other's wives Something One of them There's some cheating

There's some cheating but Yeah I think Knock at the Cabin's gonna open at number one I think Edie for Brady will outgross it maybe because book club will have it out

so if it's gone for that and I think Knock at the Cabin is probably going to be front loaded as a lot of the recent Shyamalan's are I think it's going to be something like Knock at the Cabin doing like 17 and a half 80 for Brady doing like 13 and a half 80 for brady doing like 13 and a

half avatar 2 doing like 10 uh man from auto surprisingly beating them all with 400 million dollars in its sixth it's finally ready it's been simmering for a while that movie is bizarre uh yeah it's a forrester right yeah another forrester he keeps notching him up yeah that guy works he's one of those guys where every once in a while someone will start a rat thread being like the case for mark forrester and i'm like the opposite no he's like ratner to me where i'm like he is the the diametric opposite of what we're talking that is journeyman he is the he is the ultimate journeyman yes yes uh maybe there was a world where he could have been different, but he quickly picked the route of like,

no, I'll just be like a reliable guy that gets called on to make these kinds of things. Yeah. But then sometimes he gets called on to make the kind of thing that isn't what you would assume to hire him for. I didn't realize he was Swiss. Yeah.

I have been told by some people that they think that's why he keeps getting big jobs in Hollywood is that he presents smarter than he seems because he's got

this European accent. He has that vibe to him. No offense to Mark Forster who has genuinely made movies that I like. He's made some films.

He's also made movies that I don't like. Yeah. And that's the mark of a churchman. He does look smart and in interviews he is very well composed. He has a scarf't like. Yeah. And that's the mark of a turkey. He does look smart. And in interviews, he is very well composed. He has a scarf and stuff.

Yeah. You know, kind of handsome. Yeah, he looks like an opera director or something. Right. You know, he looks like you'd say something and you would. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Anyway, I don't know. What else do we have to say? My favorite weapon was the one with the chains and like a big heavy thing.

I feel like you'd be so into these weapons. Yeah. Well, I like that they are like, what if we took two weapons and taped them together? Plus mace? There's something better than that. They've invented weapons. They're basically sporking weapons.

Sporking weapons. In this movie? Yeah. I really appreciated that. I think, but like this movie really bummed the three of us out

big time oh it bummed me out too I was really upset by it even though the movie I think has a hopeful ending it's sort of hopeful dark but they're like

look there are certainly lots of movies that bum me out that I walk out hooting and hollering about how good it was like Armageddon Time

I remember texting you when I walked out and I was like, that movie is thoroughly depressing. What a masterpiece. It is fucking bleak in its world view. That movie is depressing. Knock the cabinets fucking dick. But I felt pretty amped by how good it was despite the fact that it put me in a bad mood. I was like, the fucking craft of this thing,

Grey, sharpened blade, you know? Whereas this, I don't know. I couldn't quite get my head around it. I like talking about it. I do think it's interesting. Very interesting. Knock at the cabin.

We're done talking about it. Yeah. It's over. Great. So we did our box office prediction game. I don't know. Yeah. Oh,

where do you put it? Oh, that's a good call, actually. Let me see where I put it. I put it low. Low? know. Yeah. Oh, where do you put it? Oh. That's a good call, actually. Let me see where I put it. I put it low. Low? Yeah. I didn't think to formally update my rank.

Let me see if I have my Shyamalan list here. Do you put it below? Okay, so I'm assuming your top five probably in some order has Unbreakable, The Sixth Sense, Old, Glass, and maybe The Village? My friend, let me tell you. I'm pulling it up. M. Night Shyamalist.

Where is this? M. Night Shyamalist. Okay. So this is 15? Okay, so I have everything here. My list as it stands right now. Yes. Knock Unranked. Boy, I got some weird ones in here. Okay. From top down.

Unbreakable. Sixth Sense. here. Okay. From top down. Unbreakable. Six cents. Old. Glass. The village. Lady in the water. The visit. Signs.

Split. Wide awake. Happening. After earth. Praying with anger. Last airbender. That's crazy. Yeah.

I'm a lunatic. I forgot my list was this wild. That's insane. My inclination is that I would put this between Split and Wide Awake. Between Split and Wide Awake? Damn. Yeah, I'd have this at like nine. I have it at five right now.

Okay, give me your list. Village Unbreakable Sixth Sense Old. Knock. Village Unbreakable Sixth Sense Old. Okay. Knock. Wow. Glass Split is at Signs. That's sort ofable 6 old. Okay. Knock. Wow. Glass split as it signs. That's sort of the next tier.

Then praying, which I kind of have in this sort of sentimental like, look, man, sure it's a bad movie, but, you know, you were working with what you had. Uh-huh. And then I have this sort of like, I'm not sure I can forgive, you know, I can really defend these entirely beyond being weird

things happening. Wide awake lady after Earth last year. I don entirely Beyond being weird Things happening wide awake Lady after earth Last year if you're harder on wide awake than praying With anger yeah Why do we can noise me I hate that shit I hate that fucking David fuck you Marie works so hard on that movie

So hard on Robert Lohse Don't worry buddy it's not It's okay David David, the movie is called Wide Awake and he can't stop being asleep. It's a paradox I can't resolve. He's a tie-dye boy. He's falling asleep while brushing his teeth.

He's a Hong Shoo King. I know he's asleep behind Hong Shoo King and that's great. Me, me, me, me, me. The movie's called Wide Awake. But, God, all that Robert Loja shit bugs me so much. I hate that shit. I'm sorry, M. Night Shyamalan, if you're listening.

It's not the worst movie. It's Robert Loja. He's dead. If he's listening. Okay. Robert, if you're up there. Or down there. I don't know.

You seemed a little irascible at times. Yeah. Also, M. Night, if you're listening, sorry about the turd stuff. Yeah. Oh, also, sorry. I forgot to rank Darkman. Darkman's my number six.

Sure. I would probably slot Darkman in around six on this one, too. Five or six. Yeah. I just love old. Yeah. Old as a banger. Yeah.

Did we review that on this show? Oh, we did. I have no memory of that. We liked it, right? Yeah, we as a banger. Yeah. Did we review that on this show? Oh, we did. I have no memory of that. We liked it, right? Yeah, we loved it. And people have been yelling at us for two years thinking it's a scion. Yeah, it's a scion.

Also, I... I can now reveal, it's a scion. Yeah. I also made... And we were paid handsomely. But then the money turned to dust. It did, unfortunately. The money got old so quickly.

Or even better, if it's got Queen Victoria's like got like Queen Victoria on it. Like, shit! They give us like Aztec gold and it deteriorated in between our fingers. Uh, I famously asked people to at us on Twitter

why they thought a movie like Black Widow was better than old because I could not fathom. It was like in the summer of 2021. I could not fathom. It was like in the summer of 2021. Yes, I could not fathom having that perspective. Yes. Did people like that? Were they calm and chill?

They were super calm and chill. I did get some people being like, old is weird and Black Widow is competent. And that was the take. Is it though? To each his own. Competent ain't the word I'd use for me. B-dub.

No, no. There's things I don't mind about that movie, but it does not strike me as a competently made one. Knock at the cabin, I did not love, but we did watch a very dour trailer for Ant-Man and the Wasp, colon, quant Quantumania. Also, I mean, the number one inescapable trailer now.

It does not matter what movie you are going to see. Yeah. You could see a fucking, like, Go on. Brackets. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Short film collection and anthology film archives and somehow the Quantumania trailer comes up.

Well, the first one they were showing had that, like, kind of nice Elton John remix. Who thought I would long for the days of Quantumania trailer one? But now that we're three months into the reign of Quantumania trailer two. Yeah, now I'm like, uh-uh. So, that'll be my new thing.

You know, let me know. America. Blankies. Why Ant-Man and the Wasp, colon, Quantumania is a better film than Knock at the Cabin. Maybe it'll be fantastic. I have no idea. I like Peyton Reed. I like the Ant-Man movies.

I like Paul Rudd. Did you know that they used the volume on this one? We got a Maria Menounos Noom thing where they said actually, would you believe? I'm sorry. Noom does not sponsor this podcast. Nope.

Do not talk to us as if that is a present tense thing because you're listening to episodes from four years ago. Maria Menounos Noomi Would you believe that

the production of Quantumania used the same technology for virtual backgrounds as seen in The Mandalorian? It's like no movie has ever looked less like it was shot in any real space. I thought they didn't go to Quantumania for that one. No. No. I think they went to Atlanta.

You know why? Well, that is the Quantumania. Tax incentives were really bad in the Quantumania. Well, they've got a whole political thing going on right now. Kathy Hochul is. Kathy Hochul is warring with the state senate. We got to get you two on Nuvi. Like.

Ben said this. He was getting angry seeing these other guys on Nuvi. I don't want to be on Nuvi. And that's why I said it. I'm getting you on Nuvi. Okay. I would do it for like a really sick amount of money. Here's the.

Like I don't want to. David. Here was the exact conversation. We're all watching Nuvi. Some TikTok fucker shows up. Some movie trivia segment with some TikTok fucker. Ben turns to me and goes,

why aren't you guys doing Nuvi? And I say, David would hate that. Yeah, I would hate that. But what was that thing you did that people made GIFs of? The movies. The Paramount thing? Yeah. Yeah. People didn't make GIFs of that. But what was that thing you did that people made gifts of? The movies. The Paramount

thing? Yeah. Yeah. People didn't make gifts of it. I believe Paramount made gifts of it. Yeah. I'm saying, like, if the check's big enough, you'll do it. I don't want to speak ill of anybody, but the check wasn't big. I think it was just like, I don't know. I was

like, you know, you want to come sit in a studio for a couple hours and riff about some movies? I was like, you know, you want to come sit in a studio for a couple hours and riff about some movies? I was like, sure. Okay, so then Maria Mnunoz, call us. All right, you know what? Fine, I'll do Nuvi. If the price is right. Yeah.

Although, the thing about it was, I'll say this off mic. It's one of those things where, like, you take some freelance gig and they're like, so now we're happy to pay you. Give us all of the information on your life. We have to load it into our stupid system to give you, you know, dollars. Not that many dollars.

You know, like that kind of thing. Can I have the last five years of your tax returns? It's the freelance existence of constantly having to do all the paperwork as if you're starting a new career anytime you do a one-day gig. Just so Viacom can give you dollars? Yeah.

I mean, I'm not trying to complain. It was fine. Right. And then like for the next 15 years, Viacom can send you W-9s or W-4s, W-2s in the mail that just say like, we're not paying you this year. You didn't make any money from Viacom this year, FYI. And I'm like, oh, I know.

Zero, zero, zero. Yeah, I figured. I don't think those gifts have residuals. Nuvi, any theatrical chain except for Regal, call us. Yes. You know, you're looking to... But isn't Nuvi, Regal, and AMC something else? Oh, is it? Doesn't AMC have the better one that everyone likes more?

Or am I wrong? I thought Nuvi was an independent entity. I know, but I feel like they contracted Regal and AMC contracts with... I think they have a deal with all the Regal locations. Sure. There used to be Regal first look. I remember that. Yeah.

Right. And there used to be the 20 before that, which I loved. Because I just remember— Show up early for the 20. You'd show up early. Yeah. Like, I remember that era when I was going to— It's the only time I'd ever show up early.

Going to the fucking Regal like eight times a week, and I would just see the stupid pre-roll about the Ben Schwartz spy show undercovers over and over and over and over. Does Ames even have a branded thing anymore? Also, how long

is this episode? We're done. Two hours. Great. Like exactly? We have a big clock now. It's exactly two hours,

51 seconds. Well, I hope people like this episode that ended up being a grab bag of a lot of different things. Yeah. These new movie episodes

are often that way. Yeah. Yeah. Fine. Yeah, sure. Watch it in the cabin. I'm sure you all hated it. Sorry.

Ben didn't like it. Yeah, and look, I don't love every M. Night Shyamalan movie. There, are you happy? But I do think you're... It's interesting. Not a lot of people...

I agree with that, David. Not a lot of people are making stuff like this. Our friends at the Super Yaki, I believe it was Andrew Ortiz, the head of Super Yaki himself, who runs the Twitter account, tweeted this out the other day.

But he said, there's the line in signs where they talk about Joaquin Phoenix's disastrous baseball career. And they ask him why he had such a bad hit record or whatever. And he says, it felt wrong not to swing. And he was sort of reclaiming that as the M. Night Shyamalan mantra, where he was like, it's hard to think of another filmmaker who in a career now spanning 25 years of working at a really high level

within the studio system basically every time takes a wild swing and even his worst movies are bad in ways that are confounding right right he never does something after earth is the closest yeah but he never does something where you're like well he just found this he's not doing the obvious version of that

right yeah it's so that's you know I'm as happy for when he misses in a way for me like this that is unique and singular

and the work of one man and it's just it's also just fucking endearing that this guy is doing shit on his terms fully.

That he has figured out this way to sort of one foot in, one foot out exist in the mainstream studio system and also completely own his own destiny. And I'm always excited to see what he does next.

Me too. Yeah. Anyway, next week, the beach. Oh, yeah. Now, this beach does not make you old. No, I mean, it makes you old in the regular sense. You know, one minute at a time. You age in real time.

Right, yeah. Yes, they do leave the beach older than when they got there. Yes, next week is Our episode on The beach With The mama Of the blankies

Yes Emily Ishida is back Back for the first time In a long time Not that long A year and a half We didn't realize How long it had been

We're sorry Yeah we're sorry You know she did move to LA Moved to LA How dare she How dare she To move to LA And experience great.A. How dare she? How dare she? To move to L.A. and experience great success. Anyway, yes.

How dare she? The Beach. Next week, we're back into Boyle. We'll obviously be taking a quick, another quick break for the Blankies. Yeah, that's in like three weeks from now, I think. Yeah, beginning of March. Yeah.

Whatever it is. But otherwise, keep tuning in. Patreon, obviously. We're now about to start the Men in Black franchise. Yes. The next episode on Patreon will be about MIB Men in Black. And yesterday we

posted our thoughtful and you know, analytical take on Street Fighter. Street Fighter episode has come out. Okay, that was my question. So you can listen to a Ben's Choice on Street Fighter. Street Fighter episode has come out. Okay, that was my question. Yeah. So you can listen to a

Ben's Choice on Street Fighter. You can listen to the Spoiler, Zangief is in that movie. Zangief is in that movie. Zangief himself? Zangief. It is the second best performance by Zangief in a movie.

Yeah. Wreck-It Ralph? Yeah, he's really good in Ralph. He's really funny. Yeah. Hadouken. Yes, and Hadouken!

As we've been trying to remind people every uh patreon episode gets unpaywalled after three years to the day so every 10 days on patreon there's going to be a new exclusive locked episode but we're also unlocking an old one we're unlocking episodes from early 2020 so the entire marvel cinematic Universe of commentaries along with the Star Wars commentaries are out there and I think we're now into Toy Story commentaries.

No. So we're still now sort of halfway through Star Wars. Okay. Yep. Well then that's what's going on over there. Check it out.

You can check that out. Just go to our Patreon. Yeah. Patreon.com slash blank check. You can adjust then the year. Yeah. Look at 2020 releases. Yeah. And it's just truly the post then the year yeah look at 2020 releases yeah and it's just

truly the post where the episodes went up in 2020 are now just open and unlocked for the public if you want to listen to them there that's all I gotta say about that thank you all for listening please remember to rate review and subscribe hey thank you to our good friend Marie

Barty you're welcome come up on the two-year anniversary, basically. Love you guys. You started working right before March Madness. 2021. Yeah. And look, spoilers, but we just spent a lot of time right before this, basically. Tense war room negotiations to settle March Madness for this year.

And I think it's going to be fun and normal. And everyone's going to be chill online. Yeah. I insist. Yeah. Thank you to Alex Baranay,

Jim Cairn, for their editing. JJ Burtz for his research, which he didn't do on this episode. Hope you enjoyed the time off, JJ. Thank you to Pat Reynolds and Joe Bowen

for our artwork. Thank you to Pat Reynolds and Joe Bowen for our artwork. Thank you to Lane Montgomery and the Great American Owl for our theme song. You can go to blankcheckpod.com for links to some real nerdy shit. As we said,

next week we're taking a trip to the beach. And as always, hello.